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IlIBRARF OF CONGRESS. # 
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t [SMITHSONIAlf DEPOSIT.] t 



I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ! 



CHRISTIAN PROGRESS: 



A SEQUEL 



TO THE 



ANXIOUS INQUIRER AFTER SALVATION. 



BY 

JOHN ANGELL'JAMES, 

AX3TH0R OF " AN EARNEST MINISTRY," " CHURCH IN EARilEST,*' 
" CHURCH member's GUIDE," ETC. ETC. 



Forgetting the tMngs wMcli are behind, and reaching forth unto those 
things which are before. Phil. 3 : 13. 
Then shaU we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. Hosba 6 : 8. 



SECOND EDITION. 



^//^ 



CHARLESTON, S. C: 

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 

1855. 



TO THE HEMOST OF 

illiiini ,knmm tk$, fsq., 

LATE OF 

STANLEY HALL, STROUD, 

WHOSE INVALUABLE SERVICES FOR A PERIOD OF THIRTY- 
SEVEN YEARS IN CONNECTION WITH THE 

Religious Tract Society 

, so MATERIALLY CONTRIBUTED IN THE DAYS OF HEALTH TO 

THE PROSPERITY AND* USEFULNESS 

OF THAT IMPORTANT INSTITUTION ; AND TVHO AMIDST 

SUFFERING AND RETIREMENT 

STILL CONTINUED HIS OCCASIONAL EFFORTS FOR ITS INTERESTS, 

THIS WORK, 

UNDERTAKEN AT HIS SUGGESTION, AND ON 
WHICH BK BESTOWED SOME OF THE LAST MOMENTS OF HIS LIFB. 

Is Inscribed 

WITH SENTIMENTS OF MOURNFUL ESTEEM AND REGARD 
BY HIS SINCERE AND SURVIVING FRIEND, 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



The history of this little Work possesses a nournfLil and 
solemn interest. It owes its existence to one of whom it 
must now be said, " Blessed are the dead wliich die in the 
Lord, from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may 
rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." 
Some months ago I received a letter from my dear and long- 
continued Friend, William Freeman Lloyd, Esq., once 
the invaluable agent of the Religious Tract Society, suggest- 
ing the desirableness of some small voliune to form a Sequel 
to " The Anxious Inquirer," and expressing a wish that I 
would midertake it. At first I put aside the idea as caUing 
for what appeared to me to be superfluous, there being 
already books of that description even, perhaps, to abimd- 
ance. It was still urged upon me by my much esteemed 
Friend, on the ground that the extensive circulation and 
favor which '• The Anxious Inquirer " had obtained, might 
possibly secure for a treatise ^\T:itten by the same^ author, 
and intended to be a sequel to the former, more attention 
than the productions of some other writers would receive, 
especially if its title and contents should set forth a connec- 
tion between the two. 

Durmg a season of mdisposition, which by confining me 
pretty much for some days to my chamber or my study, the 
subject came imder re-consideration : I cormnuned about it 
•'with my own heart upon my bed," and also with Him 
"from whom all good counsel, all just thoughts, and all 
holy desires do proceed ;" and the result was a determination 
to comply vnth the suggestion of Mr. Lloyd. The plan 
was in part drawn, and the general idea of the subject re- 
volved and taken while my head was upon my pillow, and 
during the silent watches of the night ; and my first busi- 
ness on my restoration was to commit to paper the thoughts 
which had passed through my mind in the season of seclu- 
sion. 



b PREFACE. 

The work, according to their undeviating plan of submit- 
ting all their publications to the careful examination of their 
own Committee, or to some one appointed by them, was 
committed by the Kehgious Tract Society to the revision and 
approval of Mr. Lloyd, then in retirement through long- 
continued indisposition. Sheet after sheet had passed under 
his critical review, till the last, which contained the preface 
and a dedication to himself, came back with a short note 
expressive of his gratification that his name would thus be 
pubhcly associated with mine. In consequence of an unex- 
pected delay in the supply of paper, the striking off of this 
last sheet was delayed till the very morning when intelli- 
gence of his death arrived, and just in tune before the press 
was set to work, to enable me to pay this tribute of affec- 
tionate respect to the memory of one with whom I have 
been in private somewhat intimately associated, and whom 
I so much respected for his talents, admired for his useful- 
ness, and loved for his virtues. It will ever be a grateful 
recollection that one of his last, if not the very last, of his 
services for the Society whose interests he so tenderly loved 
and so efficiently promoted, was to examine on its behalf 
this production of my pen, and fruit of his own suggestion. 

I have determined, that though his decease took place 
before the printing of the Work, the Dedication which he 
read and approved shall remain, with only just such altera- 
tion as shall make it a tribute of respect to his memory, 
-astead of a token of esteem to the living man, 

" The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." 

J. A. J. 

Edglaston^ April 28, 1853. 



INTRODUCTION, 



THE DESCRIPTION OF PERSONS FOR 

WHOSE BENEFIT THIS WORK IS INTENDED AND 

TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED. 

" If there be one word," says a writer in one of 
the ablest of our evangelical periodicals, "which 
more than another now commands the ear of the 
British public, that word is — ' progress.' It has 
fallen like a spark amongst the inflammable mass of 
the workino' and thinkino* classes. This mio:htv 
watchword of the newest and most potential eras 
has run through the mighty chain of hearts and 
minds with electric intensity." This is true of 
science, of literature, of arts, of commerce, of juris- 
prudence, and of politics. It would be strange if 
religion, considered as a practical system, could be 
justly exempted from this law of progress. We are 
to expect no new revelations, and cannot look for 
any new doctrines to be brought out of the old ones. 
That these however have yet to develope themselves 
still more clearly; that new treasures are to be 
brought out of this inexhaustible mine, and a new 
power to be exerted by this mighty instrument for 
the world's regeneration, who can doubt ? 

It is not, however, of the progress of theological 
science, as it is found in the systems of divines, and 
as it shall clear away the clouds and mists which 
hang over men's minds, and hide the glory of the 
great limiinary of the world, that I now write ; but 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

of the progress of trutli in tlie individual mind, and 
heart, and character; of that blessed growth in 
spiritual life which is to be the supreme object of 
every one who has passed through a state of reli- 
gious solicitude ; and which carries forward the soul 
of " the Anxious Inquirer" to the condition of the 
established believer. 

This work takes it for granted that the reader 
has decided, in his own opinion at any rate, in the 
gi'eat business of religion, to look for salvation by 
faith in Christ alone. I am supposing that he has 
been led to this by the blessing of God upon my 
former work, or upon some other means. It is not 
my design now to urge him to surrender at the foot 
of the cross to God. I consider this as done. He 
has also become the professor of the faith he has 
exercised. His difficulties have been removed, his 
mistakes rectified, and seeing his only way of salva- 
tion to be by trust in Christ, he is now to be led 
forward in the ways of the Lord. 

It is the confession and lamentation of the horti- 
culturist that many of the most promising and beau- 
tiful blossoms of his trees do not set in fruit : and 
that many Avhich do, never ripen to maturity. Pre- 
cisely similar cases occur to the spiritual husband- 
men in the garden of the Lord. Where is the faith- 
ful minister of Jesus Christ who has not often in 
sadness and disappointment, to adopt the language, 
and to sympathise in the feeling of surprise, grief, 
and disappointment, of the Apostle Paul, where he 
said, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed 
upon you labor in vain. My little children, of 
whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed 
in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to 
change my voice ; for I stand in doubt of you. Ye 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

did rim well ; who did hinder you that ye should 
not obey the truth ?"— Gal. iv. 11, 19, 20; v. 7. 
How often, when through God's grace, as we fondly 
hoped, we had led the penitent to the cross, directed 
the eye of faith to the Lamb of God, assisted him 
in the exercise of '' a good hope," and left him in 
possession of a quiet consciousness of the gTeat 
change, have we seen him leave his " first-love," and 
instead of advancing into a fuller development of 
Christian character, relinquishing the soUcitude he 
once possessed, and sinking into a state of lukewarm 
indifference ! 

Of the multitudes who are confirmed in the. 
Church of England, after the greatest pains have 
been taken, even by the most spiritual and devoted 
clergymen, to prepare them for that rite, how many 
are there vv^ho disappoint their hopes ! They had 
given to them much sound instruction apart from 
the design of this ecclesiastical service itself; had 
explained to them the nature of spiritual religion as 
distinguished from that which is ceremonial, and laid 
open to them the only ground of a sinner's hope of 
acceptance v/ith God in the atonement of Christ ; 
had read the Scriptures to them and explained their 
contents ; had prayed with them and for them ; and 
as the result of all this, had seen their catechumens 
brought to concern, to conviction, to profession. 
They have welcomed them to the table of the Lord 
and rejoiced over them for awhile with great joy as 
the fruit of their ministry, and the rich and blessed 
reward of their labors. Alas, the delight was pre- 
mature, for all this goodness was " as the morning 
cloud and early dew which passeth away." 

Similar disappointments attend the ministers of 
Christ of other denominations. By their pious 



1 INTRODUCTION. 

labois, religious concern is awakened in the minds 
of some of their hearers. Conviction of sin by the 
law is produced, and the great question with its 
accompanying solicitude is awakened, " What shall 
I do to be saved?" The anxious inquirer is in- 
structed in the way of salvation. He professes to 
understand and receive " the truth as it is in Jesus." 
His solicitude subsides into peace. He becomes a 
professor of religion ; is received into the fellowship 
of the church ; and considers himself, and is consi- 
dered by others, a Christian. It might be expected 
that he would now grow in grace ; that he would 
be continually advancing in the divine life ; that his 
attainments would be always increasing ; that 'pro- 
gression would be the law of his new existence. 
But is not the contrary to this the case with many 
of those who make a profession ? Do they look like 
learners in the school of Christ who are making 
great proficiency in divine knowledge? On the 
contrary, does it not appear too evident that in many 
cases, the young disciple instead of remaining the 
anxious believer and progressive Christian, has sub- 
sided into the careless professor ? As if their solici- 
tude was to malce a profession, not to maintain it ; 
to be called a Christian, rather than he one ; to 
enjoy church privileges, rather than to feel indivi- 
dual obligations. 

It might seem strange that when a false profes- 
sion is so awfully denounced, and the Lord's table 
guarded as if by the flaming sword of a cherub in 
that woe pronounced by the apostle upon the un- 
worthy receiver, any one should be so rash and 
reckless as to expose his soul to the perilous stroke 
of that fearful weapon. Yet many do, by partaking 
in an unmeet state of mind of the sacred supper. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

It will perhaps be asked, Why do the ministers 
of religiDn permit it ? We reply, Can they search 
the heart? Can they discern between the sincere 
and the self-deceived communicant ? Is not a credi- 
ble profession a sufficient warrant to any minister 
to admit a person to the communion ? 

In an age like ours, when evangelical religion 
bears no stigma, and its professors are called to 
endure no persecution, it is natural to suppose that 
some, yea many, will say, " Lord, Lord, — who do 
not the will of our Father in heaven." Many there 
are who sufficiently feel the obligation to make a 
profession of religion, who have no just sense of what 
it includes and requires. The pei*suasion of friends, 
and their own wish to be associated with them, may 
also lead to this ; and thus the conscience is appeased, 
a sense of religious decormn indulged, and pious 
relatives pleased, while at the same time, there is no 
adequate idea of the obligation which the assump- 
tion of the Christian name involves. 

With many persons there seems to be a radical 
mistake as to the true nature of the Christian life. 
It is regarded too much in the light of a mere pro- 
fession, rather than a practice — a state, rather than 
a habit — a fixed point, rather than a continuous line 
— a resting place, rather than a field of labor — 
the goal, rather than the starting point. A profes- 
sion has b^en looked forward to with anxiety, as a 
something which is to fix and determine the character 
— ^to give a religious status — to secure certain im- 
munities. The mind in prospect is perhaps some- 
what serious, agitated, and solicitous. The table of 
the Lord is approached, and perhaps with some 
solemnity and self-surrender. And it is now re- 
garded as a thing done. The Christian character is 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

formed. Tlie mind is at ease. The inward con- 
sciousness is, "I am a professor T In too many- 
cases, solicitude is from that hour at an end. In- 
stead of a trembling anxiety to he all that they pro- 
fess ; to do all that is required of them ; to develope 
all that is contained in the Christian character ; to 
supply all the defects in knowledge, faith, and holi- 
ness, which might be supposed to exist in one so 
young in religion ; to demonstrate to all around the 
reality, by the growth, of their piety ; they settle 
down at ease upon their profession, and in many 
cases are never more in earnest, and in not a . few, 
less so than when they first began to seek the Lord. 
But without supposing such extreme cases as 
these of self-satisfaction in the first stages of reli- 
gion, there are others of a somewhat more hopeful 
character, but which still require the cautions, 
directions, and admonitions of such a work as this. 
And to put these more clearly before the reader, I 
may observe there are four successive states of mind 
in reference to religion : absolute indifference — con- 
cern, attended by conviction of sin — faith in Christ, 
bringing relief to the burdened and troubled con- 
science — and then the work of faith in its continuous 
influence on the Christian life and character. I am 
supposing now the case of one who has reached the 
third stage. His indifference has given place to 
solicitude, his solicitude has obtained relief by faith. 
The young disciple has discovered, to his delight, 
the way of pardon, peace, and eternal life, through 
the atonement of Christ. There he is, lying down 
in peace at the foot of the cross. The oppressive 
burden of his guilt is lost. The tormenting fear 
which it produced has been cast out by love. He is 
now ready to say — 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

** Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, 
Which before the cross I spend, 
Life, and health, and peace possessing, 
From the sinner's dying Friend. 

" Here I'll sit, with transport viewing 
Mercy's streams, in streams of blood : 
Precious drops my soul bedewing, 
l»lead and claim my peace with God." 

All this is well, good, liappy — but it is not enough. 
Even he, this relieved soul, is but too apt to forget 
that he has " not yet attained, and is not yet per- 
fect." Even he is but too apt to consider that the 
great transition from a state of nature to a state of 
grace ; that the mighty bound from impenitence to 
conversion ; that the wondrous translation from the 
power of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear 
Son ; is, if not all that is required, yet all that need 
make him anxious. He is so taken up with his 
justification through faith, and the peace with God 
which it brings with it, that his sanctification is 
too little thought of. He is ready to say of Calvary 
what Peter did of Tabor, " It is good to be here :" 
not considering how much yet remains to be done. 
It is indeed a blessed thing to be pardoned : who 
can deny it ? To look up and see the brow of Deity 
not clothed with a frown, but radiant with a smile : 
to see the heavens all serene and cloudless, and to 
feel the bright beams of mercy diffusing warmth as 
well as light over the conscience. " Oh, the blessed- 
ness of the man whose transgressions are forgiven, 
whose &in is covered, to whom the Lord imputeth 
not iniquity." But this is not the whole of religion 
— nor the end of it — nor the highest glory of it. 
There is the purpose for which this very pardon is 
granted to be accomplished. There is all the sub* 
sequent work of grace, of which this is only the 
commencement, to be carried on and completed. 

2 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

0, tliou blessed penitent — thou relieved anxious 
inquirer — thou rejoicing young believer — ^I would not 
dash the cup of consolation from thy lips, nor drop 
into it wormwood and gall. I would not affirm thy 
joy is premature. On the contrary, I would say, 
" Rejoice in the Lord, Rejoice in the Lord always." 
" The joy of the Lord is thy strength." " Go on 
thy way rejoicing." Yes, but then, Go on. Carry 
thy joy with thee, even joy and peace in believing. 
But still I say, Go on. Onwards ! Onwards, is the 
Christian's watchword. How blessed a night was 
it to the Children of Israel when they celebrated the 
paschal feast on the eve of their flight from the 
house of bondage. Yes, but they were to eat it 
with their staves in their hands, and with other 
emblems of progress. How jubilant were their 
feelings when they found themselves safe on the 
farther shore of the Red Sea. Yes, but there they 
were not to linger, but must move onwards. All 
the length of the wilderness stretched between them 
and the promised land. Privations were to be en- 
dured ; enemies to be encountered ; difficulties to 
be surmounted ; and dangers to be escaped ere they 
could set their foot on Canaan. So is it with the 
Christian ; his conversion is but his flight from 
Egypt ; and amidst all the joy of his first faith and 
first love, he must be reminded of the journey 
through the wilderness, and be prepared to make it. 

The journey is in fact to the latter what it was to 
the former — the great test of character. Of all those 
six hundred thousand who started so joyfully from 
Egypt only two crossed the Jordan. All the rest 
found graves in the wilderness. Of those who now 
seem so hopefully to set out for heaven, and make 
a good profession before many witnesses, how many 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

are satisfied with merely beginning well. In them 
the Christian character is never developed. They make 
no progress. Not going forward, they turn back- 
wards. Instead of progress it is retrogression with 
them. They are like evergreens transplanted in the 
spring, which for awhile look as vigorous and fresh as 
the other shrubs all around them ; but they send out 
no shoots, though retaining for awhile their verdure. 
The gardener as he looks upon the plant has his 
fears, and shakes his head ; till as the season advances, 
the signs of decay are but too apparent, and the leafless 
skeleton proclaims the work of death. So is it with 
some who make a profession of religion in youth. 

The design of this volume, then, will now be 
clearly seen, and the persons for whom it is intended 
be correctly understood. It is a sequel to "The 
Anxious Inquirer after Salvation directed and encou- 
raged," and takes up the traveller to heaven where 
that leaves him, and ofiers to guide him onward in 
his perilous and eventful course. To change the 
illustration fi-om the flight of Israel out of Egypt 
to that of Lot from Sodom, and to connect it with 
the former work above alluded to, I might say that if 
the intent and efiect of that little work, in every 
case where it is successftil, is to pluck the sinner 
from the condemnation of the law, and thus to per- 
form the oflSce of the angel who brought the patri- 
arch out of the city doomed to destruction ; the 
purpose of this is to say to the rescued fugitive, 
" Escape for thy life : look not behind thee, neither 
stay thou in all the plain : escape to the mountain 
lest thou be consumed." 



16 INTRODUCTION. 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

Before you proceed to read another page, pause, 
ponder, and examine. Solemnly, as in the presence 
of God ; seriously, as taking up the most momen- 
tous subject in the universe ; honestly, as wishing 
to know your real state, ask yourself the question, 
" Am I stopping in a mere profession ? Have not 
I hastily taken up the Christian name without duly 
considering what it is to be a Christian? "What 
strictness and earnestness it implies ; what obliga- 
tions it imposes ; what duties it requires ; and what 
progressive improvements it demands? Have I 
really studied the Word of God to obtain a correct 
idea of the nature of religion ? Of its hohness, 
spirituality, heavenliness ? Do I understand it to 
be a growing meetness for, and a steady advance 
towards celestial glory ? Have I not concluded I am 
a Christian too hastily ? Or, have I not settled down 
into a state of carelessness, while I ought to be still 
in a state of anxiety and effort ? Or, supposing I 
have experienced a change, have I not taken up the 
idea that religion is a state rather than a progress ?" 

Reader, put these questions to yourself. Be honest. 
Wish, long, be intensely anxious, to be right. 
Tremble to your very soul's centre at the idea of self- 
deception on so momentous an affair. Before you 
read another chapter, put down the volume, fall upon 
your knees and agonize in prayer, that the perusal 
may be blessed to your soul. Take the book vdth 
you into your closet. Read it in your most serious 
hours, in your greatest privacy, and in the most 
solemn manner. I would recommend these and 
some such other directions for its perusal as are 



INTRODUCTION. HT 

found in "The Anxious Inquirer." In books for 
spiritual edification much depends upon the manner 
in which they are read. If taken up carelessly and 
read in a light mood, or in the company of others, 
they are likely to do little good. The attention will 
not be fixed, nor the heart engaged, nor the con- 
science awakened. You must be somewhere alone 
with God ; where you can have leisure and oppor- 
tunity to commune with your own heart and with 
him ; where you can pause, reflect, and pray, un- 
observed by a single fellow-creature ; where you can 
stop, examine, ejaculate, and it may be, weep. 

You must read this work, if you would get any 
good from it, in some such serious manner as this. 
I have been very serious in writing it. It has lain 
with great weight upon my spirit, and has been the 
subject of much earnest prayer to God. I have seen 
much of the. evils it is intended to remove, and felt 
much of the need of some such work. And as every 
page has been written in the spirit and exercise of 
prayer more or less, so I feel anxious that every page 
should be read in the spirit of prayer. Offer, there- 
fore, some such supplication as this : — 

" Father of mercies and God of all grace, since 
thou hast put it into the heart of thy servant to write 
this little work for my edification, grant me, through 
Jesus Christ, my only Mediator and Advocate, the 
teaching and help of thy Holy Spirit, that I may 
derive spiritual advantage fi'om the perusal of it. 
Rouse my too dull and flagging soul to consider the 
importance of the subject. I give thee sincere and 
hearty thanks that thou hast awakened in me an 
anxiety about salvation, and enabled me to look for 
the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, unto eternal 
life. But as the work of grace is only just begun 

2* 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

in me, I earnestly pray that I may be deeply im- 
pressed with the indispensable need of progressive 
improvement. Make me desirous to grow in gTace : 
and may this book, through thy blessing, greatly 
conduce to that end. Help me to fix my attention 
upon what I read ; to understand what I attend to ; 
to treasm-e up what I understand in my memory ; 
and to practise what I remember, so that I may 
have cause to bless Thee that ever this work came 
into my hand. Thus, while I am thankful for the 
instrument, thine shall be the glory, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ : Amen." 



'>& 



CHAPTER I. 

THE NECESSITY OF PROGRESS. 

All spiritual good things tend to improvement. 
A right principle must, from its very nature, push 
outward and onward as long as there is in contact 
with it anything that is wrong, for there is an expan- 
sive power in all truth and virtue. It would be 
stranpfe if this were not the case with relioion. It 
is with goodness as with money, the possession 
augments the desire to possess more. So that 
they who are contented with such a measure of 
piety as they already suppose they possess give 
fearful evidence that they have none. And this 
ought to sound alarm at once in the ears of a 
very large number of persons. " Is it true," they 
should say, " that a self-satisfied condition is proof 
of little or no religion ; that a quiet, easy, con- 
tented mind, without any anxiety to advance, is an 
evidence that the soul is not in a good and safe 
state ; then ought I not to fear that I am deluding 
myself, since certainly I know very little about such 
a solicitude as this ? Have I not, since I made 
a profession, seemed to reach the summit of my 
hopes, and settled down into a state Of religious 
competency upon a supposition that I am rich enough 
already ?" It may be well for the fears of some to 
be thus excited ; and that they should ask such ques- 
tions about their real condition. An uninquisitive 
state of mind cannot be a safe one. It is too mo- 



20 THE NECESSITY 

mentous an affair to be treated in this " free and 
easy" sort of manner. It would be far more rational 
for a young tradesman just or lately started in life to 
be careless and questionless about bis advance or re- 
trogression, than for a young Christian lately set out 
on the journey to heaven. " Am I making progress ?" 
should be his inquiry. Just for this reason — Progress 
is the law of true religion. This appears — 

First. From Scripture commands. We shall 
select only a few of the most prominent. How im- 
pressive is such language as the following : " That he 
would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, 
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the 
inner man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by 
faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is 
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and 
to know the love of Christ, which passeth know- 
ledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of 
God."— Ephes. iii. 16-19. " That we henceforth be 
no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of 
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
wait to deceive ; but speaking the truth in love, may 
grow up into him in all things, which is the head, 
even Christ : from whom the whole body fitly joined 
together and compacted by that which every joint 
supplieth, according to the effectual working in the 
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body 
unto the edifying of itself in love." — ^Ephes. iv. 
14-16. Eead also Phil. i. 9-11 ; Col. i. 9-11 ; 
Heb. vi. 1-3— xiii. 20-21 ; 1 Peter ii. 1 ; 2 Pet. i. 
5 ; and especially 2 Pet. iii. 18 : " Grow in grace, 
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." May I request you to lay down this volume, 



OF PROGRESS. f| 

open your Bible, and read these passages, remem- 
bering that it is God who speaks to you in every 
one of them, and commands you to go forward. 

Secondly, Consider the scriptural illustrations 
of the nature of true religion. We take one first 
from the Old Testament, and a beautiful one it is — 
the rise and progress of the sun. " The path of the 
just is as the shining light, that shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day." — Prov. iv. 18. It is 
not the glimmer of the glow-worm — nor the tran- 
sient blaze of the meteor — nor the wasting ray of 
the taper — but the grand luminary of heaven " com- 
ing out of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong 
man to run a race." And a very beautiful sight it 
is, to see a soul rising out of darkness, not stopping 
on the verge of the horizon, but ascending higher 
and higher : not merely beginning its course and re- 
maining amidst fogs, clouds, and mists, but shining 
brighter and brighter at every step with increasing 
knowledge, faith, and love. But is this shining 
light the picture of our path ? There is no such 
command given as, " Sun, stand thou still :" there- 
fore it rebukes a stationary profession. It is a rising 
and an advancing, not a declining, sun : therefore it 
rebukes a backsliding state. There may be an occa- 
sional cloud, or even in some cases, as of David and 
Peter, a temporary eclipse. But when did the sun 
fail of carrying on its early dawn to a perfect day ? 
Be thankful then, for " the day of small things :" 
despise it not. But be not satisfied with it. Reli- 
gion must be a shining and a progressive light. 

Among these scriptural illustrations there is none 
more frequent or better known than life. It is 
scarcely necessary to quote passages, they are so 
numerous, and so familiar. "He that believeth 



22 THE NECESSITY 

hath everlasting life." " By this we know we have 
passed from death unto life.'' " He came that we 
might have life, and that we might have it more 
abundantly." " Your life is hid with Christ in God." 
" When Christ who is our life shall appear." Reli- 
gion is a new, a spiritual, a divine, a heavenly life : 
the life of God in the soul of man. Now it is the 
law of all life to progress. It is so with vegetable 
and animal vitality, and it must of necessity be so 
with that which is spiritual. Mark the new born 
babe— there is a spark of life, always very feeble, 
sometimes scarcely distinguishable from death. Yet 
there is life. The babe becomes a child, the child a 
youth, the youth a man. Life is progressive. Is 
not this, I say, the selected, the frequent emblem of 
the Christian ? In support of this illustration of 
progress in religion, we may refer to one of the pas- 
sages already quoted, — " As new-born babes desire 
the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow 
thereby." Newly converted persons are babes lately 
born, little infants, feeble in every thing that per- 
tains to spiritual life, yet there is life. They are 
not like still-born children, that cannot grow, but 
are quickened from a death of sin to a life 
of righteousness. What is dead cannot grow; 
as what is perfect does not need to grow. An 
unregenerated sinner can never grow in spiritual 
life. He must first be made alive ; and when he 
is alive he must grow. This constitutes the differ- 
ence between " living'''' in the Spirit, and " walking*^ 
in the Spirit. There is first the principle of life, 
then its manifestation in activity. So young Chris- 
tians are very far from being what they are yet 
to be, even on earth ; as all Christians are very far 
from being what they are to be in heaven. The 



OF PROGRESS. 23 

child of God is born to grow as well as to live : and 
God, who has ordained the growth, has provided for 
it in the milk of the word. The representation of 
Archbishop Leighton in his exquisitely beautiful 
exposition of this passage is so striking that I shall 
introduce a long quotation from it, which no one will 
deem too long : — 

" The whole estate and course of the Christian's 
spiritual life here is called their infancy, not only as 
opposed to the corruption and wickedness of their 
previous state, but likewise as signifying the weak- 
ness and imperfection of it at the best in this life, 
compared with the perfection of the life to come ; for 
the weakest beginnings of grace are by no means so 
far below the highest degree of it possible in this 
life, as the highest degree falls short of the state of 
glory : so that, if one measure of gi-ace is called in- 
fancy in respect of another, much more is all grace 
infancy in respect of glory. And sure as for dura- 
tion, the time of our present life is far less to eter- 
nity than the time of our natural infancy is to the 
rest of our life ; so that we may still be called but 
new or lately born. Our best pace and strongest 
walking in obedience here, is but the stepping of 
children when they begin to go by hold, in com- 
parison of the perfect obedience in glory, the stately, 
gi^aceful steps with which, on the heights of Zion, 
we shall walk in the light of the Lord ; when ' we 
shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.' All 
our knowledge here is but the ignorance of infants, 
and all our expressions of God and of his praises, 
are but as the first stammerings of children (which 
are, however, very pleasant both to child and parent), 
in comparison of the knowledge we shall have of him 
hereafter, ' when we shall know as we are known ] 



i4 THE NECESSITY 

and of those praises we shall oflfer him, when that 
new song shall be taught us, ' which is sung before 
the throne, and before the four living creatures, and 
which none can learn but those who are redeemed 
from the earth.' — Rev. xiv. 3. A child hath in it a 
reasonable soul ; and yet, by the indisposedness of 
the body, and abundance of moisture, it is so bound 
'up, that its difference from the beasts, and its par- 
taking of a rational nature, is not so apparent as 
afterwards ; and thus the spiritual life that is from 
above infused into a Christian, though it doth act 
and work in some degree, yet it is so clogged with 
natural corruption still remaining in him, that the 
excellency of it is much clouded and obscured ; but 
in the life to come it shall have nothing at all en- 
cuinbering and indisposing it. And this is the 
Apostle Paul's doctrine : ' For we know in part, and 
we prophesy in part. But when that which is per- 
fect is come, then that which is in part shall be done 
away. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I 
understood as a child, I thought as a child ; but when 
I became a man, I put away childish things. For 
now we see, through a glass, darkly ; but then face 
to face : now I know in part ; but then shall I know 
even as I am known.' — 1 Cor. xiii. 9-12. 

"And this is the wonder of divine grace, that 
brings so small beginnings to that height of perfec- 
tion that we are not able to conceive of ; that a little 
spark of true grace, that is not only indiscernible to 
others, but often to the Christian himself, should yet 
be the beginning of that condition wherein they shall 
shine brighter than the sun in the firmament. The 
difference is great in our natural life, in some per- 
sons especially, that they who in infancy were so 
feeble, and wrapped up like others in swaddling 



OF PROGRESS. 26 

clothes, yet afterwards come to excel in wisdom and 
in the knowledge of the sciences, to be commanders 
of great armies, or to be kings ; but the distance is 
far greater, and more admirable, between the weak- 
ness of these new-born babes, the small beginnings 
of grace, and their after perfection, that fullness of 
knowledge that we look for, and that crown of im- 
mortality that all are born to who are born of God. 
But as in the faces and actions of some children, 
characters and presages of their after greatness have 
appeared, as a singular beauty in Moses' counte- 
nance, as they write of him, and as Cyrus was made 
king among the shej^herd's childi*en, with whom he 
was brought up, so also certainly in these children 
of God there be some characters and evidences that 
they are born for heaven by their new birth. That 
holiness and meekness, that patience and faith, that 
shine in the actions and sufferings of the saints, are 
characters of their Father's image, and show their 
high original, and foretell their glory to come ; such 
a glory as doth not only surpass the world's thoughts, 
but the thoughts of the children of God themselves. 
* It doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we 
know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like 
him ; for we shall see him as he is.' — 1 John iii. 2." 
We now, in prosecution of the scriptural illustra- 
tions of religious progress, take up the idea of a 
SPRING. " Jesus answered and said unto her, Who- 
soever shall drink of this w^ater, shall thirst again ; 
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him 
a well of water springing up into everlasting life." — 
John iv. 13, 14. Permit me to direct your fixed 
attention to the beauties of this passage. While the 
pleasures of the world, " the lust of the flesh, the 
pride of life, and the lust of the eyes," are but as 

3 



26 THE NECESSITY 

drops which excite rather than allay the thix*st of 
the natural man after true happiness, or at best 
leave him unsatisfied ; the grace of Christ in renew- 
ing and sanctifying the soul, leads it to the true 
fountain of bliss, and compels it in the fullness of 
satisfaction, to exclaim, " I have found it ; I have 
found it." And this source of happiness is not far off, 
for it is within and not without its possessor. " It 
shall be in him a well of water." He carries the 
spring about with him. Hence it is said, "The 
good man shall be satisfied from himself." And it 
is also abundant, an unfailing source, a constant 
supply, a well ever accessible and never dry. But 
it is not merely the satisfying but progressive nature 
of true religion which is here represented. It is a 
beautiful image — not a stagnant pool, nor a well so 
deep as that its waters cannot rise ; but a spring 
whose sparkling and gushing ebullitions shall be 
ever bubbling up, and forming an ever-living foun- 
tain that flows at all seasons of the year, in heat or 
cold, and in all the circumstances of the weather, 
whether foul or fair, wet or dry. Religion always 
lives, always shows its beauties, and amidst all 
changes of external circumstances. But this inward 
spring of grace in the soul is represented as rising 
higher and higher, and never stopping till it reaches 
eternal life ; swelling into a stream which refreshes 
others in its course to eternity, making all around 
it fruitful and pleasant ; just like a river flowing 
through a country which irrigates the land and covers 
it on every hand with fertility and beauty. 

I ask. Is this descriptive of our religion ? Do we 
know anything of this indwelling of the Spirit of 
God ? This inward supply from a divine source of 
sanctity and bhss ? These holy ebullitions of sane- 



OF PROGRESS. 2*1 

tified feeling ? This rising up of an inward principle 
to a divine source, an element of life issuing fi-om 
the parent fountain, and returning to its primitive 
source — a something godlike, which aspires to God 
— heavenly, which aspires to heaven — eternal, which 
rests not till it has reached the eternal ? What of 
all this is in us? Is it jnystery, or plainness to 
us ? It is immensely important that we give ourselves 
time and leisure to enquire into this matter. 

The next illustration I borrow is that which we 
find in our Lord's language ; " The earth bringeth 
forth fruit of herself: first the blade, then the ear, 
after that the full corn in the ear."— Mark iv. 28. 
This language is rather a description of the growth 
of gi^ace in the heart, than, like the grain of mustard 
seed, the advancement of the kingdom of Christ in 
the world. It is an allusion to one of the beautiful 
developments and slow processes of nature in regard 
to vegetable life. How gradually does the principle 
of vitality evolve, its first germinating being imper- 
ceptible to the most observant eye. Yet from that 
invisible germ, there grows up at length the strong 
and verdant blade. Then the ear gently and gra- 
dually comes forth from its envelopments. This 
under the genial influence of the heavens and the 
fertilizing power of the earth swells into the plump, 
ripe corn, ready for the reaper's sickle. Instructive 
and beautiful emblem of that more precious seed of 
the Word of God which is sown in the heart of 
man by God's regenerating w^ork ! It is at first 
small, feeble, tender, scarcely perceptible, like the 
first shoots of the grain in the earth. It may be the 
early impressions upon a child's mind listening to his 
mother's gentle admonition and familiar instruction. 
Or it may be a conviction lodged in the soul under 



28 THE NECESSITY 

some melting or alarming sermon. Or it may be a 
serious reflection occasioned by some painful visita- 
tion of Providence. God has various methods of 
entering by his grace into the soul of the uncon- 
verted sinner. The seed may lie long like the grain 
in the earth before any sign of vegetable life is per- 
ceptible ; yet all this while the vital process may be 
going on. At length it rises above the ground and 
growth is visible, which continues till the result al- 
ready described is apparent. But like that in its ear- 
lier stages, it needs the greatest watchfulness and 
care, for it is peculiarly susceptible of injury and 
destruction. 

The last illustration I take up is that of a race. 
" The most splendid solemnities which ancient his- 
tory hath transmitted to us were the Olympic Games. 
Historians, orators, and poets abound with references 
to them, and their sublimest imagery is borrowed 
from these renov/ned exercises. The games were 
solemnized every fifth year by an infinite concourse of 
people from, almost all parts of the world. They were 
observed with the greatest pomp and magnificence ; 
hecatombs of victims were slain in honor of the 
heathen deities, and Elis was a scene of universal 
festivity and joy. We find that the most formidable 
and opulent sovereigns of those times were competi- 
tors for the Olympic crown. Even the lords of 
Imperial Rome and emperors of the world entered 
their names among the candidates, and contended for 
the envied palm ; judging their felicity completed and 
the career of all human glory and greatness hap- 
pily terminated if they could but interweave the 
Olympic garland with the laurels they had purchased 
in the fields of war." Alas for the littleness of 
earthly ambition and the narrow range of human 



OF PROGRESS. 29 

vanity ! It is not to be wondered at that an insti- 
tute so celebrated sbould be employed by tlie sacred 
writers to illustrate the sublimer objects which they 
had to propose, and to stimulate the desires which 
they were anxious to awaken. Hence the impres- 
sive language of the apostle: — "Know ye not that 
they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth 
the prize ? So run, that ye may obtain. And every 
man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all 
things. ISTow they do it to obtain a corruptible 
crown : but we an incorruptible." — 1 Cor. ix. 24-25. 
'No subject could be more familiar than this to the 
minds of the Corinthians, who were often spectators 
of similar games celebrated upon the isthmus on 
which their city was situated, and hence denominated 
the Isthmian. Among these games the foot-race sus- 
tained a distinguished place. To this, express allusion 
is made by the apostle in writing to the Hebrews, 
among w^hom these national festivities had been in- 
troduced by Herod the Great. " Wherefore seeing 
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud 
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run wdth 
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." — Heb. 
xii. 1-2. Every expression in these two passages is 
allusive and instructive. The enrolled competitoi 
underwent for several months, like the men who 
engage in those disgraceful feats, our prize fights, 
a rigid system of physical Iz^aining. Hence the 
expression, "He that striveth for the mastery is 
temperate in all thingsP The candidates were obliged 
to keep in the course marked out, and to observe all 
the rules prescribed ; w^herefore it is said, " If a roan 
strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he 

3* 



80 THE NECESSITY 

Strive lawfully ^ — 2 Tim. ii. 5. The racers laid 
aside their garments and ran nearly naked. Hence 
the exhortation : " Let us lay aside every weight — 
(every unnecessary care, every lust both of the flesh 
and of the mind) and the sin which doth so easily 
beset us." The race was carried on amidst an im- 
mense crowd of spectators, — hence the language : 
" We also are compassed about with so great a cloud 
of witnesses. ^^ The prize was merely honorary, con- 
sisting only of a chaplet of leaves, which withered ere 
it was worn — hence it is said, " They do it to obtain 
a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible,^'' How 
finely does this illustrate that sublime passage in the 
epistle to the Philippians : " JSTot as though I had 
already attained, either were already perfect : but I 
follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which 
also I am apprehended of Jesus Christ. Brethren, 
I count not myself to have apprehended : but this 
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are 
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which 
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of 
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." — Phil. iii. 
12-14. Every term here employed refers to the 
ancient foot-race, and the whole passage beautifully 
represents the ardor which fired the competitors 
when engaged in the contest. 

Such, and so impressive, is the description given 
us by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, of the nature 
of religion ; of the Christian life ; and it is sufiicient 
to make all somewhat anxious about their own state 
and to reveal the utter worthlessness and hollo wness 
of the pretensions of many to the possession of true 
piety. Does not this illustrative figure set forth 
more forcibly and vividly than any mere language 
could do, that the Christian life is a state of self- 



OF PROGRESS. 31 

denial — intense desire — deep solicitude ; — of strenu- 
ous, unremitted, unwearied action ; — and of constant 
progress ? How was the soul of the racer filled and 
fired with the hope of success ? How patiently were 
the necessary privations borne ? How was every 
muscle strained and the speed quickened to the utter- 
most by the fear of defeat and the prospect of victory ? 
Reader, whosoever you are whose eye shall wander 
over these pages, pause, I beseech you, and ponder 
this subject. This is the inspired description of 
religion, and must, therefore, be the correct one. 
Does your religion answer to this ? Know you aught 
of such solicitude for the salvation of your soul, such 
labor to attain it, as are implied in this represen- 
tation ? Is your religion really a race ? Does your 
eye often gaze upon the crown of life, and your 
bosom swell with the mighty aspiration after glory, 
honor, and immortality ? Oh, do not deceive your- 
self Look at this, there is something more than 
profession here. Something more than the easy and 
careless bearing of the Christian name which many 
exhibit. 

But it is PROGRESS that the subject now leads us 
especially to contemplate. The racer was not only 
in action, but in progress. It was with him not 
merely bounding oif with a vigorous start ; nor ex- 
erting himself to the uttermost of his strength for a 
part of the course ; but a continual going onwards. 
Hence the beautiful language of the apostle : "For- 
getting the things that are behind, and reaching forth 
unto those which are before." One who was running 
in the ancient race would not stop to look back to 
see how much ground he had run over, or which of 
his companions had fallen or lingered on the way. 
He woulii keep his eye fixed on the goal and the 



32 THE NECESSITY 

prize, and strain every nerve to reach them. If his 
attention were diverted for a single moment it might 
hinder his speed and might be the means of his losing 
the crown. Onwards, onwards, was the mighty im- 
pulse which stimulated him in his course. So was 
it with the apostle. He fixed his eye intently on 
the prize, and allowed no past attainments as a 
Christian, or success as a minister, to make him 
linger on the way. So must it be with us. No 
measure of knowledge, of faith, or holiness, must 
satisfy us, but we must be ever making advances in 
the divine life. 

Thirdly, If anything more be necessary to con- 
vince us of the necessity of progress, consider Scrip- 
tural REBUKES. How often did our Lord reprove 
his disciples for the infantine feebleness of their 
faith ; and with what just severity did the apostle 
reproach the believing Hebrews for their want of 
progi^ess. " When," said he, " for the time ye ought 
to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you 
again which be the first principles of the oracles of 
God ; and have become such as have need of milk, 
and not of strong meat." — Heb. v. 12. Could any- 
thing be more reproachful of their culpable negli- 
gence, their shameful indolence, their voluntary back- 
wardness in seeking after divine knowledge ? They 
were babes when they ought to have been, and might 
have been, of full and matured strength. They were 
content with the very rudiments of Christianity, the 
alphabet of religion. It satisfied them just to have 
light enough to grope after salvation, and to walk 
on in dim twilight. Alas ! alas ! how many are like 
them. How many are content with the veriest 
elements of knowledge and experience. Talk with 
them, observe them yeai's after they have made a pro- 



OF PROGRESS. 38 

fession of religion, and you will find tliem possessed 
of only the crudest notions and the most unsettled 
feelings. They are no further on in the divine life 
than they were : yea, they have gone back. 

Read also the pungent rebukes of our Lord to the 
churches in the Apocalypse. He thus addresses the 
3hurch at Ephesus. '' I know thy works, and thy 
^abor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not 
bear them which are e\dl ; and thou hast tried them 
which say they are apostles and are not, and hast 
found them liars : and hast borne, and hast patience, 
and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not 
fainted." How exalted a character ! How rich a 
piety ! How fine an eulogium ! Surely there is 
nothing here to condemn. Yes, there is. Mark what 
follows. " Nevertheless, I have somewhat against 
thee, because thou hast left thy first loveV See that. 
Dwell upon it. No attainments, no eminence, can 
compensate for a decline of " first love." Christ will 
allow no plea of extenuation to be put in ; much 
less any defence to be set up. Hence what follows, 
" Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, 
and repent, and do thy first works ; or else I will 
come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candle- 
stick out of his place, except thou repent." — Rev. 
ii. 5. But perhaps it will be said, all that Christ 
required in this case was that they should only 
recover lost ground, return to their former state, and 
continue as they were. Ah, but what must have 
been their first love, when their diminished affection 
was so gi'eat ? What must have been their first 
works, when their secondary ones were so signal ? 
And moreover the rebuke did not necessarily imply 
that they were to be satisfied with even this. They 
had declined just because they had neglected to 



84 THE NECESSITY 

advance, and it was therefore strongly implied that 
they must advance in order that they might not 
again recede. 

If these things do not prove the necessity of pro- 
gress, it is hopeless to prove anything. We should 
give to them their due weight and act under their 
influence. 

ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

You have now learnt from the Word of God, the 
necessity of progress ? What think you of it ? 
Has it ever thus occurred to you before ? Does 
it strike you now ? Gan you deny or doubt this 
necessity? Can you be indifferent to it, or trifle 
with it ? Perhaps you have overlooked it. You 
have never entered into the subject ; but have had 
all your attention directed, and all your solicitude 
awakened to make a good beginning, a public pro- 
fession, a favorable start. But is this all that is 
necessary ? Does this answer to the description of 
religion, as a race, a spring, a growing child, or 
ti'ee ? Can you really satisfy yourself that your 
religion is real if it be unattended with a conviction 
that it should be progressive ? Do, do study afresh, 
I beseech you, the representations given in this 
chapter. Ask yourself the one question, "Am I laying 
aside every weight and the sin that does so easily 
beset me, and so running the race that is set before 
me, as to obtain the prize of eternal glory ?" Are 
you ? Is there that intense desire after the crown, 
that vigorous effort to obtain it, that eager hope to 
receive it, which shall impel you onward with the 
speed of the ancient racer ? Oh, are you convinced 
that it is not a faint endeavor, but a mighty con- 



OF PROaRESS. 35 

flict that must gain eternal life ? Are you saying 
to youi-self, " I must forget the things that are behind 
and press towards the mark for the prize of my high 
calling? I cannot be satisfied to be always as I 
am. I pant to be holier." Again, I say, pause and 
pray. Read no more till you have entered your 
closet, and have put up the prayer of faith for a 
deeper conviction of the necessity of progress. 



CHAPTER n. 

NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

What is it to make progress in religion ? Pro- 
gress is not only action, but moving onward. A 
door turning upon its hinges is in a state of motion, 
but it never advances. A chariot moving upon 
wheels is not only in action, but goes onward. The 
conduct of some persons in religion resembles the 
former — there is action but no advancement : they 
move, but it is on hinges, not on wheels. They go 
through, perhaps, even with regularity, the exercises 
of devotion, both public and private. They may be 
mechanically exact and punctual, still they do not 
go forward. 

There are two ways of setting forth the nature of 
progress. First By representing the young convert 
retaining his first views, feelings, and conduct with 
consistency after his profession has been made, and 
then carrying them with him into future life and all its 
various conditions, scenes, duties, and relations. Life 



36 THE NECESSITY 

itself is progressive and ever-clianging. Imagine 
the case of a youth who receives his first rehgious 
impressions and assumes the religious character 
while at home with his parents. To prepare for future 
life he leaves his father's house either as an appren- 
tice or a shopman. In too many cases, a change of 
scene produces a change of character, and religion, 
under the influence of the unfavorable circum- 
stances in which he may now be placed, or by the 
power of temptation, declines, if it be not altogether 
abandoned. But in the case I am supposing, the 
youth holds fast his integrity, and amidst irreligious 
and scoffing companions maintains his steadfastness 
and consistency. He bears opposition and insult 
with firmness, fortitude, and meekness. Here is 
progress. There may be no great increase of know- 
ledge or of holiness, but what he had has been ex- 
posed to hard trials and has surmounted them, and 
this itself is growth, and great growth too. So of a 
daughter who remains at home : her profession may 
have been assumed when very young, before her 
heart was susceptible of the corrupting influence of 
the world. The time arrives when the child passes 
into the girl and the girl into the young woman. In 
this transition, when she feels the desire of com- 
panionship, when her society is courted, and she is 
invited to parties and amusements, we often see 
sad instances of declension. Seriousness is gone, 
and little else than a mere profession is left. But in 
the case of real progress, the purpose to serve the 
Lord is unmoved, the resolve to come out from the 
world and be separate is unshaken. There is the same 
earnestness, seriousness, and decision as ever. Com- 
pany, flattery, publicity, produce no alteration of con- 
duct or character. There is a solicitude not how 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 37 

pearly she can come to the world and yet not be of 
it ; but how far she may recede from it, without 
affected singularity, unnecessary precision, or a viola- 
tion of the courtesies of life. She is the same simple- 
minded Christian, the same decided follower of the 
Lamb, amidst the development of womanhood as she 
was in her teens. This is progress, great progress. 
To retain her first love amidst this change of cir- 
cumstances is advance, because it has been put to a 
new test, and has honorably passed the ordeal. 

A similar remark may be made in reference to the 
influence of our religion on the diflf'erent relations of 
life. When young people, who have parents living, 
are converted to God, it is of course their duty to let 
their religion influence them as children. Religion 
is not only to make us better towards God, but better 
towards man ; and he who is really made better to- 
wards God will infalHbly be made better towards 
man ; and if we are not improved in our conduct 
towards our fellow-creatures, there is a moral cer- 
tainty we are not improved towards our Creator. 
There is progress when the great change is proved by 
persons being made better husbands or wives ; better 
parents or children; better masters or servants. 
It IS a beautiful growth of godliness, when social 
excellence and all its blessed fruits are seen springing 
out of the stem of piety. Oh, to see the prodigal 
son brought back by religion to his father's arms 
and home ; or the unkind and unfaithful husband 
won back by his piety to the woman whom he had 
oppressed and insulted ; or the faithless servant, like 
Onesimus, reclaimed by his conversion from dis- 
honesty and injustice. Show me the professing 
Christian whose social character is as unlovely after 
profession as it was before, and though there may be 

4 



38 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

an increase of knowledge and of some other things 
connected with religion, there \^ no progress. 

Then, when the youth arrives at manhood, and 
carries his religion with him also into business, and 
amidst all its cares, temptations, and perplexities, 
holds fast his personal godliness, and unites the 
Christian tradesman with the Christian professor, 
letting his light so shine before men that they, seeing 
his good works, glorify God, there is progress : for 
alas, alas, how many who while in the capacity of a 
servant maintain a conscience void of offence both 
towards God and man, and keep up a regard to the 
one thing needful, lose nearly all the power of reli- 
gion either as a principle or a taste, when plunged 
into the anxieties and snares of trade. 

Have not many women, who, while young and un- 
married, and unencumbered with domestic cares, 
were earnest in piety, become careless, lukewarm, 
and indifferent, when surrounded with the scenes and 
occupied with the solicitudes of a wife, a mother, 
and a mistress ? This, however, is not always the 
case, as our biography of pious women can amply 
testify. It is a beautiful sight to behold the young 
wife and mother retaining her attention to religion 
in all its earnestness and spirituality, and thus quali- 
fying herself for her new situation by all the power 
of that godliness which she gained in single life. 
Here is eminent progress. 

Then what vicissitudes affect us in this world. 
Some are raised to prosperity fi'om low circumstances, 
and lose their religion by little and little in the 
ascension, till it is all gone by the time they reach 
the summit. Rarely has it happened that men have 
not been the worse for prosperity ; rarer still that 
they have been the better for it. What an advance 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 39 

in godliness has he made, who retains his deci- 
sion, his earnestness, his spirituality, his humility, 
amidst the rising tide of wealth, and who is the same 
man in spirit after his success as he was before it. 

And so with adversity, to bear it with meek sub- 
mission to the will of God ; to endure chastisement 
with all long suffering and joyfulness ; to appear 
cheerful amidst surrounding gloom ; hopeful amidst 
desponding circumstances ; happy in God when there 
is nothing else to make us happy ; he who does this 
has indeed made great advances in the divine life. 

But perhaps what we have hitherto considered 
does not so completely bring out the idea of progress 
as another method of representation, since it is 
rather the progress of the Christian with religion, 
than in it ; the retention and manifestation of 
piety in various situations, rather than the increase 
of piety itself. Still it is a necessary and most im- 
portant part of the subject. We now therefore take 
up this latter view of the subject. 

There ought to be a gi'owth in everything that 
constitutes personal godliness. And as all true reli- 
gion is based on knowledge, there should be an 
increase of this. Defects here, as we have already 
shown, were the occasion of the apostle's rebuke to 
the Hebrews. The increase of knowledge was much 
in the apostle's prayers for the churches. — Ephes. i. 
17-23— iii. 18, 19 ; Philip, i. 9 ; Col. i. 9. In all 
these passages, to which it is hoped you will turn, 
you will see how earnest St. Paul was that his con- 
verts should advance in knowledge. Apart from, or 
without this, there can be but slow advances in any 
thing else. This is clear from the apostle's exhorta- 
tation, " Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Thus you see 



40 N^AHTURE OF PROGRESS. 

growth in grace and growth in knowledge are 
inseparably connected. Light is essentially neces- 
sary to natural vegetation ; so it is to that which is 
spiritual. Young converts are sometimes so taken 
up with religious feeling and doing^ as to forget the 
importance even in reference to these, of knowing. 
By a growth in knowledge then, we mean an in- 
creasing understanding of the contents, and their 
true meaning, of the Word of God : a real advance 
in acquaintance with biblical truth. Not only an 
acquaintance with systems of religious opinion, but 
with the design and meaning of the books, and 
chapters, and texts of Scripture ; an ever-growing 
disposition and ability to read the Sacred Word 
with intelligence, discrimination, and self-applica- 
tion. 

There are three or four matters which may be 
considered the very substance of the Bible, and with 
which every Christian should make himself as fami- 
liar as his time and circumstances will allow. The 
Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christy as God — 
man. Mediator ; or " God in Christ reconciling the 
world to himself," is the grand peculiarity of the 
Bible. It was dimly shadowed forth under the Old 
Testament, and is clearly revealed in the New. 
Christ is the alpha and omega of Revelation. You 
cannot understand the Bible if you are ignorant of 
this. The true and proper divinity of Christ's per- 
son is the corner-stone of Christian doctrine. Com- 
pare Psalm cii. 25-27, with Heb. i. 10 ; Psalm xlv. 
6, with Heb. i. 8 ; Isaiah vi. with John xii. 37-41 ; 
Isaiah xlv. 23, 24, with Rom. xiv. 9-11. Read, 
also. Matt, xviii. 20 ; John i. 1, 10-14— viii. 56-58 
— X. 30 — xiv. 8-10 — xvii. 5 — xx. 28 ; Rom. ix. 5 ; 
Philip, ii. 5-11 ; Col. i. 16— ii. 9 ; 1 Tim. iii. 16 " 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 41 

Heb. i. ; 1 Jolin v. 20 ; Rev. i. These are only a 
portion of the Scriptures that testify the true and 
proper divinity of our Lord. Do give yourselves 
time and leisure to turn to them, to study them, to 
treasure them up in your mind. But it is Christ as 
Mediator^ also you are to consider, uniting in a way 
we cannot comprehend, the divine and human nature 
in his one glorious person, As> Mediator he died in 
the sinner's stead as his substitute, and by his death 
upon the cross made an atonement for the sinner's 
transgressions. How clearly, how gloriously, how 
unanswerably does the doctrine of atonement shine 
forth in that wonderful passage, Rom. iii. 24-26. 
There, propitiation, which is the same in meaning as 
atonement^ is declared to be the very end of Christ's 
incarnation and death. Three times, in the compass 
of two verses, is it declared, that the demonstration 
of God's justice is the end of Christ's sufferings un- 
to death. The whole gospel scheme is a manifesta- 
tion of mercy in a way of righteousness. In redemp- 
tion God shows love to us in a way that eclipses 
neither the glory of his character, his laws, nor his 
government. Understand well the design of Christ's 
death, of that mysterious economy of a vicarious 
sacrifice — that it was to harmonise the salvation of 
the sinner with the honor of God, and this could 
only be done by an atonement. At the same time 
understand well the doctrine of atonement. This 
means that Jesus Christ ha^dng died in the place 
and stead of guilty man, it is for the sake and out 
of regard to his death as the meritorious considera- 
tion that God pardons the sinner, and by which 
scheme of Divine wisdom and mercy, the same pur- 
pose in regard to justice and to the maintenance of 
the principles of moral government, will be accom- 

4* 



42 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

plished as the punisliment of the sinner would have 
done. And it is in this view that we see the 
connexion between the di\anity of Christ and the 
doctrine of atonement. The sacrifice of one who 
was a mere man, or a creature however highly 
exalted, could not be as clear a display of God's 
public justice as the punishment of the whole multi- 
tude of pardoned sinners would have been. There 
required a sacrifice of a very peculiar nature. Here 
we have it, in Christ. He was truly and ^^roperly 
man, that he might suffer and die, which God could 
not do ; he was God, and thus the sufierings of the 
manhood acquired from his divinity a character of 
infinite merit and worth. For a proof of this doc- 
trine we refer you to Isaiah liii. To the whole 
Levitical law, as compared with the epistle to the 
Hebrews, especially to Leviticus xvi., compared mth 
Heb. ix. X. Read also Matt. xx. 28 ; Rom. v. 9 to 
end; 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; 1 Peter i. 18, 
20— ii. 24; 1 John, iv. 10; Rev. i. 5. These 
Scriptures are only a few of what might be selected 
to set forth the doctrine of the atonement ; a doctrine 
not only momentous as an article of faith, but infi- 
nitely precious as a basis of hope. 

Another subject which it is immensely important 
for a young Christian to understand is God's method 
of bestowing the blessings of salvation upon the 
sinner — that is, the doctrine of justification by 
FAITH. Who are the persons that will receive 
salvation, and what is the way in which they receive 
it ? This has been plainly set forth in the former 
treatise — I mean " The Anxious Inquirer after Salva- 
tion, Directed and Encouraged." By the doctrine 
of justification by faith, we mean, that when a sinner 
is convinced of his transgression, is truly penitent, 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 48 

and believes in the testimony of the gospel that 
"God so loved the world that he gave his only- 
begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life," he is pardoned, 
received to the Divine favor, and entitled to eternal 
life, not on account of his own sentiments, feelings, 
actions, or anything of his own, but entirely for the 
sake of the blood and righteousness of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, which are in such sense imputed to 
him that he receives the full benefit of them as if 
they were his own. Justification by faith is the 
answer to that momentous question, "How shall man 
be just with God ?" And the reply is, not by works 
of his own, but by faith in the work of another, that 
is Christ. He must have a righteousness in which 
to stand before a righteous and holy, as well as a 
merciful, God. He has no such righteousness of his 
own. " Christ is the end of the law for righteous- 
ness unto him." " He of God is made unto him 
righteousness." This is justification — the same in 
substance as pardon, — with this difference — that the 
word pardon simply expresses only the blessing we 
receive, while the word justification includes the 
idea of the w^ay in which it comes to us, — that is, 
by righteousness. There is also this difference, jus- 
tification signifies our entrance upon the state of 
pardon or adoption, and can take place but once : 
pardon may be often repeated towards one who is 
in this condition of acceptance. 

It is of much consequence to a right understand- 
ing of divine truth, and to the proper growth in 
knowledge and in grace, to observe and ever main- 
tain the distinction between justification and sancti- 
fication. The fall brought in two evils upon man — 
guilt upon his conscience, whereby he lost God's 



14 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

favor, and became obnoxious to Ms wrath ; and 
depravity into his nature, whereby he lost God's 
image, and became earthly, sensual, and devilish. 
To be restored to bliss, in other words to be saved, 
he needs to have his guilt pardoned, and his nature 
renewed. This is provided for in the gospel scheme 
of redemption. By the blood and righteousness of 
Christ, our sins are pardoned ; and by the work of the 
Holy Spirit our hearts are renewed, our nature 
changed, and our lives sanctified. The work of the 
Spirit begins in regeneration, and is carried on in 
progressive sanctification. The difierence, therefore, 
between justification and sanctification is very great 
and obvious, and must ever be maintained in our 
views. Justification is the work of Christ for us ; 
sanctification the work of the Spirit in us : justification 
is perfect at once ; sanctification is progressive : justi- 
fication is before sanctification, and sanctification is 
the fruit of justification ; consequently the evidence 
of our justification is in our sanctification. All the 
first joy and peace of the sinner must come to him 
by justification : but his peace, joy, and bliss as a 
believer must flow in great measure from his sancti- 
fication : justification is in order to sanctification, 
rather than sanctification in order to justification. 
These remarks may seem to some to be mere theo- 
logical technicalities. But they are not so. They 
enter into the very vitalities of personal godliness. 
For the study of the doctrine of justification — and 
it ought to be a subject of study, deep study, and 
progressive intelligence — the following portions of 
Scripture should be devoutly perused : — Isaiah 
xliii. ; Jer. xxxiii. 15, 16; Rom. iii. — iv. — ^v. — ^x. ; 
1 Cor. i. 30, 31 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. ii.— iii.— iv. ; 
Phil. iii. 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 45 

These are the chief matters to be investigated in 
perusing the Word of God. Not that the attention 
is to be exclusively confined to these subjects. 
Nothing in the Bible is unworthy the attention of a 
Christian. The ancient and interesting histories of 
the books of Moses, and the subsequent chronicles 
of the Jewish nation ; the lofty devotions of the 
Psalmist ; the Proverbs of Solomon ; and the sublime 
and beautiful books of the Prophets — should also 
be studied ; for " all Scripture," and this expres- 
sion refers to the Old Testament, " is given by in- 
spiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
ness ; that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." ^ 

It is not, however, in the doctrinal or historical 
parts of the Word of God only that the young 
Christian is to increase his knowledge. In religion 
there is nothing purely scientific : all, all is practi- 
cal. Every part is " a doctrine according to godli- 
ness." It is declared in the passage just quoted, to 
be the design of the Bible, '' that the man of God 
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works." Truth is but a means to an end, and that 
end is holiness. Every one of us ought to study 
our Bibles with that prayer upon our lips, " Sanctify 
me by thy truth ; thy word is truth." We should 
grow in our knowledge of the character of God, 
that we may resemble it ; in the perfection of the 
law, that we might be conformed to it ; in the ex- 

* I know of no volume more excellent for a knowledge of the 
general contents of the Bible, and the history of the texts, than 
" Nichols' Help to the Reading of the Bible," except it be Home's 
noble work. But the former is only one small volume, at about 8s., 
whereas the latter is too large and expensive, except for students or 
wealthy Christians. 



16 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

ample of Jesus, that we might be more like it. 
There should be a conviction that we are not only 
not yet as perfect in what we do know as we should 
be, as well as that there is much yet that we do not 
know. A desire to know merely to know, is curi- 
osity ; but a desire to know in order to c?o, is 
sanctity. 

There ought, then, to be progress in knowledge. 
No Christian should be satisfied with mere rudi- 
ments. And yet the great bulk seek for nothing 
more. It is really humiliating and painful to 
preachers to find how little, in the way of imparting 
knowledge, is effected by all their sermons. No 
students seem satisfied with so little increase of 
ideas as those who profess to be in the school of 
Christ. Usefulness, happiness, and true religious 
dignity are thus hindered. And not only so, but 
religion itself is stunted and starved, and its luster 
diminished. And even they who do read and 
think, peruse only, or chiefly, the works of men. 
Never was there an age when Bibles were more 
widely circulated, and never an age when by many 
who possess them they were less read. Magazines, 
periodicals, and books of all kinds have come in 
upon us like a flood, which in many cases has 
almost swept away the Bible. After all, it is Bible 
truth from its own source that is the concentrated 
nutriment of the divine life ; and it will be found 
that they are usually the strongest, healthiest, and 
most rapidly growing of the children of God, who 
live most upon the sincere, that is, the pure and 
" unadulterated" milk of the Word of God. The 
works of men are very useful in their place when 
they lead us to the Word of God ; but too man}^ 
persons allow themselves to be kept away by them 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 47 

from the fountains of pure truth. For the growth 
of the church of God generally it needs to be led 
back more to the sacred Scriptures. 

Decision of character must be strengthened. At 
first many a true Christian is a little hesitating 
and halting. His opinions are fluctuating. His 
purposes are irresolute. His steps are faltering. 
He is timid ; afraid of the laughter of some, and 
the frowns of others. He is fearful of being made 
the subject of remark, and especially of critical and 
cynical remark. He cannot encounter reproach ; and 
is not yet bold enough to say, " Laugh on ; none 
of these things move me ; my mind is made up." 
Sometimes he is too regardful of his worldly interests. 
He is a little too flexible and compliant. He makes 
concessions which consistency of principle forbids. 
Companionship has too much power over him. He 
has not acquired grace yet to assert manfully his 
independence. Hence he is in great danger. This 
state of mind is perilous in the extreme. K he do 
not grow out of ^^, it will grow upon him. He is 
likely to draw back, and to give up all. See, then, 
the importance of his immediately seeking to grow in 
finnness, resoluteness, determinateness. This was 
the first thing which the apostle enjoined next to 
belief: "Add to your faith virtue," or as the word 
signifies, " corn-age :" courage to assert and maintain 
your principles before all observation, and against 
all opposition. Put on at once the courage of a 
hero, and the constancy of a martyr. Prove that 
piety, though contrary to ambition after military 
heroism, is itself the most heroic spirit in the world. 
Acquire more and more of the courage which dares 
to be singular in goodness. Be more insensible to 
the world's favor, frown, or smile. Religion does 



48 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

not encourage or foster a haughty spirit of inde- 
pendence or a total disregard of the world's opinion, 
but it does teach us so to respect the testimony of 
the Bible and the dictates of conscience as to disre- 
gard all censures or remarks that are opposite to 
these. The tree in its growth strikes its roots 
deeper and deeper into the earth, and thus 
strengthens the hold it has upon the soil, so that 
it is far less likely to be blown down by the 
raging winds. In like manner let your conviction 
strike deeper and deeper into the truth, so as that 
you shall not be thrown down by the conflicting 
opinions or the stormy passions of men. 

Faith is susceptible of growth. It was the prayer 
of the apostles, "Lord, increase our faith." And 
we read continually in the Bible of " strong" and 
" weak faith." Faith may be considered either as 
general, or believing the whole word of God, which 
is the faith spoken of in the eleventh chapter of the 
Hebrews ; or particular, as having respect to the 
person and work of Christ. As regards the former, 
there is ample room in most minds for growth. 
Difficulties, after the fiist impressions and con^dc- 
tions are over, soon arise and present themselves 
to the young and inexperienced Christian, and often 
multiply in his path. He is perplexed and knows 
not how to get rid of them. He is sometimes 
staggered. His mind is uncomfortable. Now, it is 
obviously his duty and equally his privilege to put 
aside these obstacles. Of course he should pray for 
divine grace, and, in the language already quoted, 
should say, " Lord, increase my faith." But this 
is not all he should do. He should read as well as 
pray. His mind should grow in acquaintance with 
the evidence of divine revelation. He should pon- 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 49 

der upon the miracles of Christ and his apostles — 
the accomplishment of pr6phecy in the person and 
work of the Saviour — the history of the Jews — the 
success of the gospel in its first ages by fishermen, 
not only without, but against, the powers of the 
earth — the sublime doctrine and pure morality of 
the Bible — the lofty views it gives of God, and its 
correct representations of human nature — the power 
it has in not only changing the aspects of society, 
but doing this by the renovation of the individual 
man — the miserable condition of humanity beyond 
the range and influence of Christianity, showing the 
need men have of a revelation — with the pretensions 
of false rehgions, proving the expectation they enter- 
tain that a revelation will be given. Now all these 
should become the subject of deep thought and 
reflection, by which the opposing diflSculties will 
appear light and little. Such studies are too much 
neglected by many persons, who are contented to 
take their religion upon trust, or to go on their 
way perplexed by the flippant cavils of ^infidelity 
which are so common in this age of scepticism and 
unbelief. True it is, that their own conversion ever 
will be the strongest evidence of the truth of revela- 
tion to the great mass of the people ; yet an ac- 
quaintance with these, its historic proofs, will be 
of great service, and yield great pleasm-e in their 
religious course. 

But there must be a deep solicitude to grow in 
that special faith which has direct reference to the 
Saviour and his work. Christ is the chief object 
proposed to the sinner in the New Testament. The 
eye that sweeps round the whole circle of divine 
truth must rest in him as the center. Faith is con- 
fidence, and confidence may be weak, partial, and 

5 



50 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

wavering ; or it may be undivided, firm, and settled. 
The young Christian, though convinced that Christ 
is the only ground of hope and the only source of 
salvation, though upon the whole resting upon him 
and expecting aJ things from him, is not yet brought, 
perhaps, to that full and entire turning away from 
every thing else, and that full and entire resting on 
the Lord Jesus which an intelligent and strong faith 
requires. He looks much to his frames and feelings, 
and his various experiences ; as a consequence, his 
peace rises and falls on this thermometer. A little 
more* freedom in prayer, or enjoyment under a 
sermon, or elasticity of feeling in his ordinary 
course, raises him to the mount ; while a little less 
sinks him to the valley. His opinion of his state 
is as variable as his emotions, and to a considerable 
extent is decided by them. Thus, his course is an 
alternation of gloom and gladness. What does all 
this indicate, but that the eye is not upon Christ 
but upon self ? What does it prove, but that faith 
in Jesus is weak and wavering ? That the mind 
does not yet see so clearly his finished work as the 
ground of hope and source of joy as it should do ? 
The soul is not yet weaned from self-righteousness, 
but is almost unconsciously to itself, going about " to 
establish its own righteousness," if not of works, 
yet of feelings. Now faith will as certainly take 
us ofl' from dependence upon the latter as upon the 
former. Nor is this all, for the weak believer 
is looking about to many other things for strength 
and holiness, instead of Jesus. It does not yet see 
so clearly as it should do, that " He is made of God 
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi- 
cation, and redemption." — 1 Cor. i. 31. Friends, 
ordinances, self-imposed rules of conduct, are all 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 61 

appealed to with this petition, " help me/' And in 
proper measure and season, it is quite right to use 
these helps ; but not to the neglect of faith in Jesus. 
A Christian who has grown in faith has risen above 
this, and is enabled to say, and to rejoice as he says it, 
" I now see that all fulness of blessing is in Christ, 
and that it is from that fulness I am to receive, and 
grace for grace. I am now weaned from self, and 
am no longer looking to it for any thing but con- 
viction and condemnation, but am looking wholly 
and always to Jesus. My justification, sanctifica- 
tion, consolation, stability, and perseverance, are all 
from him, just as all the sap which supports the life 
and promotes the fruitfulness of the banch is derived 
from its vital union with the tree. Being safely 
built upon him as my foundation, I mingle nothing 
with his work, and find continual matter of rejoic- 
ing. Whatever view I take of his person and work, 
whether I think of his divinity or perfect humanity ; 
his atonement, intercession, or example, comfort 
presents itself. Grace has made me willing to live 
out of myself, upon the fulness of Jesus. In him 
I have what I want, all I want." This is strong 
faith, and what an advance from that feeble, fluc- 
tuating confidence which marked the first stages of 
religious experience. This is true evangelical con- 
fidence, to look for joy, holiness, strength ; and to 
lOok for all from Christ. Then is faith settled and 
strong when we are brought to say, " For me to live 
is Christ," or as it might be rendered, Christ is my life. 
Holiness is an essential part, yea, the very es- 
sence, of personal godliness. This was the image of 
God in the soul of man at his creation, which man 
lost by the fall, and which it is the design of the 
work of redemption to restore. — Gen. i. 26-27, com- 



52 NATURE OF PROaRESS. 

pared with Ephes. iv. 22-24. Are we predestinated, 
it is that we might be holy. — Ephes. i. 4. Are we 
called, it is with a " holy calling." — 1 Thes. iv. 1 ; 
2 Tim. i. 9. Are we justified freely by God's grace, 
it is that we might be holy. — Titus iii. 7-8. Are 
we afflicted, it is that we might be partakers of God's 
holiness. — Heb. xii. 10. The whole work of Christ 
has its end in holiness. He " loved the church, 
and gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, 
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish." — 
Ephes. V. 26-27 ; Titus ii. 11-14. It is a very low 
and unworthy idea of the design of Christ's death, 
to conceive of it as only intended to save men from 
hell ; to consider it as only designed to save them 
from becoming prisoners, felons, and from the igno- 
miny of a public execution. His gracious purpose, 
in addition to this, was to make them sons of God, 
and bright and glorious resemblances of their divine 
Parent. Holiness was the bliss of Paradise before 
Adam fell : holiness will constitute the bliss of 
heaven. All the inhabitants of that state are holy ; 
all its occupations are holy ; all its influence is holy. 
Hence the indispensable necessity of holiness in the 
Christian character, and the growth of holiness in 
the Christian life. But what is holiness ? The puri- 
fication of the heart by the Spirit of God from the 
love of sin, and the life from the practice of it. But 
this is only a negative view of it, there is also a posi- 
tive one. Holiness is the love of God, for his own 
sake ; and of man, for God's sake. It is the separa- 
tion of the soul fi'om the works of the flesh, and the 
substitution in their place of the fruits of the Spirit. 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. &$ 

— Gal. V. 19-26. It is that blessed work by wbicli 
the wilderness of an unrenewed heart, where gi'ow 
the briar and the bramble, the thorn and the nettle, 
is changed into the garden of the Lord, which bears 
the fruits of righteousness. — Isaiah Iv. 13. It is 
obvious that this is susceptible of all degrees, and 
therefore of continued increase. One man may be 
holier than another, and the same man may be holier 
at one time than another. Take, for example, any 
one single lust either of the flesh or of the mind ; 
any one besetting sin, and the gradual mortification 
of that is a growth in grace. K a man have !iess 
pride, or covetousness, or malice, or impurity of 
imagination, than he had at one time, and more of 
the opposite disposition, there is progi-ess. Now, 
there is great need to say to the recent convert, 
" Follow after holiness,''^ for he is so likely to be 
taken up with the joy of pardon and the peace of 
faith as somewhat to forget the necessity of sanc- 
tification. At first his views of sin are both defec- 
tive and superficial. Many things in practice are 
wrong which he does not at first think to be so ; and 
of the depravity of his hmrt he has very faint notions 
at all ; while also he sees but little of the exceed- 
ing sinfulness of sin in general. He must there- 
fore, seek to increase in the love of God, the hatred 
of all sin, and the entire consecration of his heart 
and life to the service of God. While God is calling 
to him out of heaven, and saying, " Be ye holy, for 
I am holy," he must reply by sincere and earnest 
prayer, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be 
clean : wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit 
within me." — Psalm xli. Y, 1 1. Be not satisfied then 
without a growth in holiness of which you shall your- 

5* 



54 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

self possess the most entire consciousness, and which 
shall be equally evident to others. Holiness is hap- 
piness, and the more you have of the former the more 
you will undoubtedly enjoy of the later. Enter 
more and more fully into the bliss of finding the life 
of God in the soul continually increasing in vigor 
and in operation. It is a sign of growth in holiness 
when the mind is not only more enlightened in the 
nature, evil, and existence of sin in general ; but 
when we become more aware of little sins which did 
not formerly strike us ; when the eye of the mind is 
more microscopic, and can detect sins which we for- 
merly did not see, and especially when we are more 
affected by them. When also we are more solicitous 
to find out such imtnown sins ; when we search for 
them ourselves, taking the candle of the Lord, and 
going down into the depths of our own heart to bring 
to light what we did not before discover, and when not 
^eing satisfied with our own searching, we carry the 
matter to God, and in the language of David pray 
thus, " Search me, God, and know my thoughts ; 
try me, and know my ways ; and see if there be any 
wicked way in me." When we are afraid of little 
sins — sins of ignorance, of inadvertence, and of 
carelessness ; when the soul is so anxious to be 
holy as that it would not have even secret faults 
kept within it ; when the conscience, like the apple 
of the eye, becomes so tender that it cannot bear 
the slightest touch — this, this is growth in holiness. 
Blessed is that soul which is thus assimilating more 
and more closely to the image of God. 

Spirituality of mind and heavenliness of affection 
are essential elements in true piety : " to be spirit- 
ually-minded is life and peace." And it is also the 
state and character of the Christian to live with his 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 56 

thoughts, affections, and aspirations, centering in God 
and heaven. How strong an expression is that of 
the apostle, and how little is it known by the gene- 
rality of professors ; " If ye then be risen with 
Christ, seek those things which are above, where 
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your 
affection on things above, not on things on the earth, 
for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in 
God." — Col. iii. 1-3. Pause, reader, and ponder 
upon this impressive language. This is the mind of 
a real Christian. This is the experience of a child 
of God. It is to this that renewing grace is de- 
signed to bring us. What know you of this spirit- 
ual renovation, this strange mixture of death and 
life in the same soul ; this holy paradox ? Ah, what ! 
Know and understand that vital piety is something 
more than an abstinence from crimes, vices, and 
sins ; yes, and something more than the practice of 
the conventional virtues, not only of the world, but 
of the church. It is a spiritual, heavenly mind — an 
uneai-thly disposition. The thoughts and affections, 
by a holy spontaneity, rise up and flow to God, like 
the ebullition of a spring, without external force or 
instrumentality. Divine things possess an attrac- 
tion which of themselves draw the soul towards 
them. There needs not sermons, or books, or places, 
or occasions, to engage the mind and heart that way. 
There is an inward taste which, like any other taste, 
is itself a predisposition for them. The soul, of its 
own accord, self-moved, self-drawn, goes to Christ, 
to God, to heaven. This is gi'owing in grace, and 
increasing with all the increase of God ; this is 
walking more and more by faith, when spiritual, 
divine, ie visible objects acquire a greater power over 
the soul ; when there needs but the slightest touch 



56 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

to set the mind in spiritual motion, and tlie Christian 
feels increasingly that his element is devotion, and 
his native air the atmosphere of piety. 

The Christian Temper is one great part of true 
religion : and by this, as clstinguished from what 
has gone before, I mean the passive virtues and 
amiable affections of the heart; or what is called 
"the meekness and gentleness of Christ." Or to 
refer to another term so often employed by the 
apostle, I mean the charity so beautifully described 
in the thirteenth chapter of the first epistle to the 
Corinthians. It is of immense importance that every 
one beginning the divine life should study both that 
chapter and our Lord's sermon upon the mount. 
These portions of Holy Writ fully and intentionally 
describe and set forth the Christian temper, Youn^ 
professors, and indeed old ones too, sadly forget 
that LOVE is the very essence of the Christian spirit : 
it is the very soul of practical religion — a love that 
represses the strong passions of the heart and the 
boisterous conduct of the life — a love that makes us 
cautious against giving offence, and backward to 
receive it — a love that renders us forbearing and 
forgiving — a love that produces a calm, equable 
mind, and which speaks in soft, kind, and gentle 
speech — a love that dreads the infliction of pain and 
covets the communication of happiness. " O divine 
and heavenly charity, thou offspring of that glorious 
Being of whom it is said, ' God is love ;' thou 
of whom the Lord Jesus Christ was but an impersona- 
tion and embodiment ; thou that art another name 
for the gospel, and the very end and fulness of the 
law ; thou benign and gentle spirit, how little is thy 
nature understood and thy claims admitted, not only 
in the world, but in the church ; when shall thy 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 57 

sway be felt by all who profess to bow to thy scep- 
ter, but who withhold from thee their allegiance, 
and exhibit so little of thy rule ?" How peaceftil 
and amiable ; how courteous and affiible ; how ten- 
der and sympathetic ; how courteous and oblio^ng, 
would this love make us to all around. What 
lovely specimens of Christianised humanity, and 
what attractive recommendations of it, would this 
make us ! Here, here, is the spirit in which to 
make progress. Too many have no idea of the 
subjection of their temper to the influence of relig- 
ion. And yet what is changed if the temper be 
not ; or of what use is any other change ? If a 
man is as passionate, malicious, resentful, sullen, 
moody, or morose, after his conversion as before it, 
what is he converted from or to ? " Let the mind 
of Jesus be in you," said the apostle : and in 
another place, " If any man have not the spirit of 
Christ, he is none of his." Now, the mind of Jesus 
was loving, kind, meek, gentle, and foi-giving ; and 
unless we have these virtues we have not, cannot 
have, the mind of Jesus. We must not take up the 
idea that temper is so constitutional, a thing so un- 
conquerable, that we may as well think to alter the 
shape and complexion of our body, as to attempt to 
change the natural temper of the mind. It cmi be 
improved — it has been in millions of instances — it 
must be. We must all of us grow more and more 
in the " whatsoever things are lovely." We must 
set out in the Christian career with the determina- 
tion, through grace, to eradicate the briar and bram- 
ble, the thorn and the nettle — those lacerating and 
stinging shrubs — and to plant in their room the 
ornamental fir, the odoriferous myrtle, and the fruit- 
ful vine. 



58 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

There is perhaps no sign of growth more decisive, 
nor anything more desirable in itself, than the union 
of increasing holiness with a wider view of Chris- 
tian liberty. These two are sometimes dissociated, 
and we see, on the one hand, liberty degenerating 
into licentiousness, and, on the other, righteousness 
sinking into bondage. The freedom of the one is 
privilege in opposition to duty ; the tliraldom of the 
other is duty to the neglect of privilege. Many an 
old, but corrupt, professor has abjured the obliga- 
tions of the moral law, that he might enjoy, as he 
supposes, " the liberty wherewdth Christ makes his 
people free ;" while many a young one has placed 
himself in spirit under the yoke of the ceremonial 
code, and brought himself into a slavery repugnant 
to the free and generous spirit of the gospel. It is 
as undoubted a fact that " where the spirit of the 
Lord is there is liberty," as that there is holiness. 
Both passages in the same context are equally true, 
where it is said, '^ There is no condemnation to them 
that are in Christ Jesus ;" but then "they walk not 
after the flesh but after the spirit." " For the law of 
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made them fi-ee 
from the law of sin and death." This is in order 
" That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled 
in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." 
— Rom. viii. 1-4. How beautifully liberty and 
holiness are balanced in this passage. And how 
important is the exhortation of the apostle, "Brethren, 
ye have been called to liberty, only use not liberty 
for an occasion of the flesh." — Gal. v. 13. By 
liberty, then, we understand, not only a freedom 
from the yoke, but also of the spirit^ of the ceremonial 
law : the spirit of a child in opposition to that of a 
slave. In other Avords, serving God in a spirit of love, ' 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 50 

which casts out tormenting fears. Young Christians, 
who are not yet so enlightened and so settled in 
what are called the doctrines of gi-ace, or of free justi- 
fication through the righteousness of Christ, are a 
long time troubled with a legal spirit. There is a 
kind of superstitious punctiliousness in little things ; 
things which are prescribed by human authority, or 
invented by human ingenuity, or borrowed from 
human examples ; but not prescribed by the Word 
of God. In the early stages of religious experience 
there is often an unenlightened and sickly tender- 
ness of conscience, an excessive and shrinking sensi- 
bility, which not only subjects its possessor to a 
deprivation of lawful comforts and a large amount 
of very unnecessary pain, but which also incapaci- 
tates him for the vigorous and efficient discharge of 
duty. A man always hesitating, and fearing, and 
trembling, lest he has failed to execute in some 
minute particular the will of God, even when his 
intentions were the most pure and his efforts the 
most diligent and faithful, is but ill prepared either 
to enjoy his privileges as a child of God, or for en- 
countering the various events and changes of the 
Christian life. He will experience little of that 
"joy of the Lord, which is our strengi:h," and go on 
his way in heaviness. He is the last to whom we 
should look for an illustration of that scripture : 
" Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing 
shall offend them." We should cultivate a filial spirit 
that shall enable us, amidst our numberless imper 
fections and failings, all of which must be mourned 
and resisted, still cheeifully to enjoy our ChristiaB 
privileges, and to persevere in the way of duty, not 
doubting that we shall be sustained with power from 
on high to lead a holy life, and that through the grace 



60 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

of God, and the merits of Christ, all our deficiencies 
and errors will be mercifully forgiven, and we shall 
find acceptance at the last. I know very well that 
the tendency of many is, in these days, to extend too 
widely, rather than to contract too narrowly, the 
circle of Christian liberty ; but in these cases, there 
is a proportionate diminution of holiness. The con- 
duct is as little scrupulous in neglecting the weightier 
matters of the law, as it is in overlooking the lesser 
matters of human imposition. There cannot be a 
darker sign for any person than to be for ever com- 
plaining of the strictness of religion, and endea- 
voring to relax the bonds of spiritual obligation 
under the notion of enjoying Christian liberty. It 
is a striking mark of progress in the divine life 
when we are brought to adopt, in intelligence and 
good faith, the apostle's rule of conduct for himself: 
"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are 
not expedient ; all things are lawful for me, but I 
will not be brought under the power of any." — 
1 Cor. vi. 12. Instead of claiming, as many do, in- 
dulgence for acts in themselves unlawful because 
they are supposed to be beneficial in their effects, 
Paul was not content even with the positive lawful- 
ness of actions, unless to this Avas superadded a 
manifest tendency to the production of good, setting 
in no case these two qualities of morality and expe- 
diency in opposition to each other, much less mak- 
ing the inferior to overbalance that which is of 
greater force and value; but refusing to take a step 
when they did not coincide. He did not resolve, 
"I will perform those things that are expedient 
though they be not lawful ; but I will not venture 
even upon lawful actions, if they be not expedient." 
Here is progress, indeed, when with enlarged views 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 61 

of Christian liberty, there is at the same time an in- 
creasing disj^osition to make that liberty subservient 
to our own holiness, and also the well-being of 
others. 

Christian activity is essential to Christian consis- 
tency. The injunctions to this are so numerous as 
to be interwoven with the whole texture of Scripture. 
This is set forth by two very striking metaphors, 
where Christ told his disciples they were to be " the 
light of the world," and " the salt of the earth ;" than 
which nothing can be more instructive or impressive. 
They are to illuminate the moral darkness, and purify 
the corruption by which they are surrounded. It is 
one end of their conversion, for no man is converted 
only for himself Hence said Christ to Peter, " And 
when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." 
Every truly regenerated person is, and should con- 
sider himself, another chosen, appointed, and pre- 
pared instrument for the world's conversion. God 
works by means and instruments, and these are not 
exclusively confined to the ministers of religion. 
There are many ways in which every real Christian 
can, without invading the ministerial office, or step- 
ping out of his place, do good to others. This is 
required by the law, which commands us to love 
God, for can we love him and not desire that others 
should do so too ? Equally also by that other great 
commandment, which requires us to love our neigh- 
bor as ourselves ; for can we really love him and 
not seek to do him all the good we can ? Read the 
following Scriptures with gi-eat care and attention, 
Matt. V. 42-48 ; Rom. x. 6-13— xiv. 7, 9 ; Gal. ^A, 
6-10; Phil. ii. 4, 15, 16, 21; Heb. xiii. 16; 1 
Johniv. 10, 11. 

Young converts should have a clear understanding, 

6 



62 * NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

a deep conviction, and a very powerful impression 
of tliis, that tliey are called not only to holiness and 
happiness, but also to usefulness ; and should also 
perceive that no small part of the two first depends 
upon carrying out the last. Yet they are not always 
so disposed. They are sometimes so much taken 
Up with the enjoyment of their own personal reli- 
gion and Christian privileges, as to sit down in 
luxurious ease and indolently enjoy the happiness to 
which they are brought. But let them know and 
remember, that one of the strongest evidences of our 
own salvation, is a deep concern and a vigorous 
activity for the salvation of others. Every true 
believer should begin his religious course with an 
intelligent purpose to lay himself out for usefulness, 
according to his abilities, his means, his situation, 
his resources, and his opportunities. He cannot be 
a Christian, who, in the spirit of the first murderer, 
asks, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Benevolence 
must enter very largely into the constitution of 
every real Christian. And like every other part of 
the Christian character, it must be ever growing. 
He must be useful, and do good as a young man, 
with even limited means and opportunities. He 
must first be active in that way to which he is most 
adapted. Then he must look out for something else ; 
for nothing is so suggestive and inventive as bene- 
volence. His sphere of activity must continually 
widen, as his experience becomes established, his 
knowledge increases, his observation extends, and 
his resources accumulate. Nothing progresses more 
rapidly in a heart set upon doing good, than an 
ability to be useful. They who at first are timid, 
shy, awkward, in such efforts, soon acquire courage, 
expertness, and efficiency. It is a sad sight to see 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 63 

the heart contracting, the hand growing slack, and 
the foot heavy and slow, as the means and opportu- 
nity for doing good are multiplied. On the other 
hand, how beautiful a scene is it to witness the 
professor becoming more and more both of the 
Christian and of the philanthropist, as years roll 
on ; till he realizes the description of the Psalmi^, 
where he says, the righteous '' shall bring forth fruit 
in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing." — 
Psalm xcii. 14. 

And what is the crowning grace, the finishing 
stroke of beg,uty, and the brightest ray of glory in 
the Christian character ? Humility. " It is this 
among other things, and high among them too, 
which distinguishes Christianity from all the wds- 
dom of the world both ancient and modern, not 
having been taught by the wise men of the Gentiles, 
but first put into a discipline, and made part of 
religion, by our Lord Jesus Christ ; and w^ho chiefly 
proposes himself as our example, by exhibiting in 
his own perfect character the twin sisters of meek- 
ness and humility. Everything, — our ignorance, 
our weakness, our sins, and our follies prescribe to 
us, that our proper dwelling place is low in the deep 
valley of humility. We have only to compare our 
present spiritual condition, I will not say with the 
holy God, the holy Jesus, or the holy angels, but 
with holy Adam before his fall, to see how low we 
have sunk, and how entirely by the fall we have lost 
all ground and all excuse for pride. We have only 
to look at human nature in general — all corrupt as 
it is — or study it in our own selves as its epitome ; 
we have only to look back at w^hat we were before 
conversion, or too look in and see how imperfect 
even in our con^'erted state we still are ; we have 



64 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

only to consider how strong are our resolutions, and 
how feeble and broken have been their performance ; 
how many tb.3 temptations by which we have been 
assailed, and with what success against ourselves, to 
see most abundant cause for humility. You may 
read for injunctions to this virtue — Prov. xv. 33 
-»-xviii. 12 — xxii. 4; Mic. vi. 8; Luke xiv. 
11; Col. iii. 12; 1 Peter, v. 5. But all these 
injunctions and all possible motives to this grace 
are bound up in the example of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Remember that the blessed Saviour hath 
done more to prescribe, and transmit, and secure 
this grace, than any other ; his whole life being a 
great, continued descent from the gloiious bosom of 
his Father, to the womb of a poor maiden ; to the 
form of a servant ; to the likeness and miseries of 
sinful flesh ; to a life of labor ; to a state of 
poverty ; to a death of malefactors ; to the grave of 
death ; and to the intolerable calamities which we 
deserved ; and it were a good design, and yet but 
reasonable, that we should be as humble in the midst 
of our greatest imperfections and basest sins, as 
Christ was in the midst of his fullness of the Spirit, 
great wisdom, perfect life, and most admirable 
virtues."* 

The same author has given us the following signs 
of humility. " If you would try how your soul 
grows, you shall know that humility, like the root 
of a goodly tree, is thrust very far into the ground, 
by these goodly fruits, which appear above ground. 
1. The humble man trusts not to his own discre- 
tion, but in matters of concernment relies rather 
upon the judgment of his friends, counsellors, or 

* Bishop Jeremy Taylor. 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 66 

spiritual guides. 2. He does not pertina.jiously 
pursue the choice of his own will, but in all things 
lets God choose for him, and his superiors in those 
things which concern them. 3. He does not mur- 
mur against commandi. 4. He is not inquisitive 
into the reasonableness of indifferent and innocent 
commands, but believes their command to be rea- 
son enough in such cases to exact his obedience. 5. 
He lives according to a rule, and with compliance 
to public customs, without any affectation or singu- 
larity. 6. He is meek and indifferent in all acci- 
dents and chances. 7. He patiently bears injuries. 
8. He is always unsatisfied in his own conduct, 
resolutions, and counsels. 9. He is a great lover 
of good men, and a praiser of wise men, and a cen- 
surer of no man. 10. He is modest in his speech, 
and reserved in his laughter. 11. He fears, when 
he hears himself commended, lest God make another 
judgment concerning his actions, than men do. 12. 
He gives no pert or saucy answers, when he is re- 
proved, whether justly or unjustly. 13. He loves 
to sit down in private, and, if he may, he refuses 
the temptation of offices and new honors. 14. 
He is ingenuous, free, and open, in his actions and 
discourses. 15. He mends his fault, and gives 
thanks, when he is admonished. 16. He is ready 
to do good offices to the murderers of his fame, to 
his slanderers, backbiters, and detractors, as Christ 
washed the feet of Judas. 16. And is contented to 
be suspected of indiscretions, so before God he may- 
be really innocent, and not offensive to his neigh- 
bor, nor wanting to his just and prudent interest." 

Such is the grace, and such its signs, in which it 
is the duty of every Christian to be continually 
progressing. It is not unfrequently the case that 

6* 



6Q NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

young converts in tlie ardor of tlieir first love are 
self-confident, and sometimes a little high-minded. 
They are unduly exalted in their own estimation by 
the strength of their feelings and the liveliness of 
their frames, and are almost ready to wonder at, and 
to censure, the lowly confessions of others far older 
in the Di\dne life than themselves. They seem 
already to realise, in their own estimation, the beau- 
tiful language of the prophet, and mount up with 
wings as eagles ; they run and are not weary, and 
walk and are not faint. Their spiritual pride, like 
the fly or the w^orm striking the young germination, 
eats into the heart of the young believer, and where 
it does not destroy the principle of life, sadly im- 
pairs its growth. 

Let, therefore, the early professor be duly aware 
of this tendency and watch against it. Let him 
recollect that as humility may be, and has been, 
compared to the roots of the tree, while other graces 
are its fruits ; the latter must be expected in abun- 
dance only as the former strike downwards deeper and 
deeper into the earth. Surely it might be supposed 
there is no one grace in which the soul would be more 
disposed or find it easier to grow than this, since 
every day as it passes gives us greater and greater 
knowledge of ourselves and shows us how little 
cause there is for pride. " If we need any new 
incentives to the practice of this grace, I can say 
no more, but that humility is truth, and pride is a 
lie : that the one glorifies God, the other dishonors 
him ; humility makes men like angels, pride makes 
angels to become devils ; that pride is folly, humility 
is the temper of a holy spirit and excellent wisdom ; 
that humility is the way to glory, pride to ruin and 
confusion : humility makes saints on earth, pride 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 6? 

undoes them : humility beatifies the saints in heaven, 
and ' the elders throw their crowns at the foot of 
the throne ;' pride disgraces a man among all the 
societies of earth : God loves one, and Satan solicits 
the cause of the other, and promotes his own interest 
in it most of all. And there is no one grace, in which 
Christ propounded himself imitable so signally as in 
this of meekness and humility : for the enforcing of 
which he undertook the condition of a servant, and 
a life of poverty, and a death of disgrace ; and 
w^ashed the feet of his disciples, and even of Judas 
himself, that his action might be turned into a ser- 
mon to preach this duty, and to make it as eternal 
as his own story." And can we present for our- 
selves a more appropriate and beautiful prayer 
than that with which Bishop Taylor closes his 
'' Considerations upon Christ's Humility :" — 

"O holy and eternal Jesus, w^ho wert pleased 
to lay aside the glories and incomprehensible ma- 
jesty, which clothed thy infinity from before the 
beginning of creatures, and didst put on a cloud 
upon thy brightness, and vrert invested with the 
impure and imperfect broken robe of human nature, 
and didst abate those splendors which broke through 
the veil, commanding devils not to publish thee, 
and men not to proclaim thy excellences, and the 
apostles not to reveal those glories of thine, which 
they discovered encircling thee, upon Mount Tabor, 
in thy transfiguration, and didst, by perpetual 
homilies, and symbolical mysterious actions, as with 
deep characters, engrave humility into the spirits of 
thy disciples, and the discipline of Christianity ; 
teach us to approach near to these, thy glories, 
which thou hast so covered with a cloud, that we 
might, without amazement, behold thy excellences ; 



68 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

make ns to imitate thy gi-acioiis condescensions ; 
take from ns all vanity and fantastic complacencies 
in our own persons or actions ; and, when there 
arises a reputation consequent to the performance 
of any part of our duty, make us to reflect the glory 
upon thee, suffering nothing to adhere to our own 
spirits but shame at our own imperfection, and 
thankfulness to thee for all thy assistance ; let us 
never seek the praise of men from unhandsome 
actions, from flatteries and unworthy discourses, nor 
entertain the praise with delight, though it proceed 
from better principles; but fear and tremble, lest 
we deserve punishment, or lose a reward, which 
thou hast deposited for all them that seek thy glory, 
and despise their own, that they may imitate the 
example of their Lord. Thou, Lord, didst 
triumph over sin and death ; subdue, also, my 
proud understanding, and my prouder affections, 
and bring me under thy yoke ; that I may do thy 
work, and obey my superiors, and be a servant of all 
my brethren in their necessities, and esteem myself 
inferior to all men by a deep sense of my own un- 
worthiness, and in all things may obey thy laws, 
and conform to thy precedents, and enter into thine 
inheritance, O holy and eternal Jesus. Amen." 

And now, we may ask. Are there not certain points 
of resemblance between natural growth and pro- 
gressive holiness, which deserve notice ? We appre- 
hend there are, and principally the following : — 

1. It is the order of the natural world for all 
life, whether in vegetables, brutes, or human beings, 
to grow. Growth, as we have said, is the law of 
healthful life. 

2. Growth is dependant upon means used to pro- 
mote it. The child grows in strength and stature 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 69 

by his mother's milk ; animals in much the same 
way ; and trees and vegetables by all the processes 
and supplies of agriculture and the influences of the 
heavens and the soil. So is it with reliction in the 
soul : there cannot be advance without the appro- 
priate means, both in kind and measure. These 
will be the subject of the next chapter. 

3. Growth in other things is proportionate in all 
the parts which belong to them. If of a tree, the 
roots, stem, and branches all grow together, if the 
tree be in a sound state. If it be a child, all the 
limbs grow proportionately, and the body, and also 
mind, keep pace with each other. Disproportion 
produces monstrosities. If, for instance, the head 
be larger than the body, or the limbs smaller ; or if 
the mind is childish while the body is advancing to 
the period of youth or manhood, in either of these 
cases there is deformity. So it is in religion. The 
Christian grows in knowledge, faith, and holiness 
together. There is, or should be, no spiritual de- 
formity or monstrosity. 

4. Growth is very gradual in all life, not except- 
ing the Christian. No plant becomes a tree, no 
child a man, all at once : so is it with the Christian. 

5. Growth is perceptible, not, indeed, in its prin- 
ciples, but in its effects. In the case of a tree or 
shrub, he who sees it when first planted, and looks 
at it some years afterwards, will perceive progi-ess. 
So of a new-born babe, growing into a child of two 
years' old. So of a young convert, he who converses 
with him at his first awaking, and a year or two after 
his conversion, will perceive an increase of knowledge, 
and decision, and comfort, and holiness. This, how- 
ever, will sometimes be more clearly perceived by 
those who stand by, than by the Christian himself. 



70 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

The child is not at the time sensible of his own 
growth : and it often, yea generally, requires to look 
back and compare what he is now with what he 
recollects himself to have been, to convince him of 
his growth. And so it is with the spiritual babe. 

" A healthy child," says Dr. John Brown, in his 
admirable exposition of the epistle of Peter, to which 
I am indebted for several of the preceding remarks, 
" grows without thinking much about its growth. It 
takes its food and exercise, and finds that it is grow- 
ing in the increase of its strength, and its capacity for 
exertion. And an analogous state is, I believe, the 
healthiest state of the spiritual new-born bade. 
While self-examination, rightly managed, is very 
useful, a morbid desire of the satisfaction of know- 
ing that we are improving is in danger of drawing 
the mind away from the constant employment of the 
means of spiritual nourishment aud health. The 
best state of things is where, in the healthy vigo- 
rous state of the spiritual constitution, ready for 
every good work, we have the evidence in ourselves 
that we are growing ; and when that is wanting, 
application to the sincere milk of the word will do 
a great deal more than poring into ourselves to find 
either proof that we are growing or not growing." 

This is very true, very judicious, and very impor- 
tant : but then it must not be abused and allowed 
to degenerate into an utter carelessness about our 
spiritual state, nor abate that holy jealousy over our- 
selves, and that just anxiety to grow in grace, with- 
out which declension, and not progress, will be our 
condition. It is quite true that our chief solicitude 
should be not to neglect, but diligently to use, all 
the means of progress, rather than an attempt, as by 
a spiritual pedometer, to be perpetually measuring 



NATURE OF PROGRESS. 7l 

the ground over which we have passed. A child 
who does not grow, who finds his years rolling on 
and adding nothing to his stature, soon becomes 
anxious about it, and inquires into the cause of his 
remaining in his dwarfish littleness. And when, 
^^lerefore, the child of God, or one that professes to 
oe such, makes no advance, perceptible either to 
himself or others, it is quite time for him to begin 
to be anxious, to inquire what has stopped his pro- 
gress, and to apply afresh to all the appointed means 
for his spiritual advancement. 

ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

You now see what is meant by progressive reli- 
gion. You cannot be ignorant of this important 
subject, nor plead ignorance for the neglect of it. You 
see clearly it is not merely an uninterrupted round 
of ceremonial observances ; nor merely an acquisi- 
tion of knowledge, though these things, may com- 
port with it, but that it is an advance in faith and 
holiness. Do you understand this matter, and appre- 
hend clearly its nature as well as its necessity ? Does 
that one impressive word growth^ growth^ stand out 
clearly defined, luminously seen, impressively felt, 
before you ? If so, immediately enter upon a course 
of self-scrutiny — diligent, impartial, close examina- 
tion : to ascertain if there he this progress in you. 
Again enter into your closet, shut the door, and com- 
mune both with your own heart and with God, and 
say, as in his sight — 

Am I as really in earnest as I once was ? 

I have changed my situation, do I retain my re- 
ligion, and have I carried into new circumstances and 
relations my former earnestness ? 



Y2 NATURE OF PROGRESS. 

Am I advancing in my knowledge of the Scrip- 
tures and the great truths of religion, gaining 
cleaver and more distinct apprehensions of spiritual 
things ? 

Am I more decided, and resolute, and settled, in 
all my religious convictions and pious habits, than I 
was at first ? 

Is my faith stronger and more influential, and am 
I less troubled with doubts and fears than I was ? 

Am I really holier than I was ? Have I gained 
greater power over my corruptions ? 

Am I more spiritual and heavenly, more full of 
devout thoughts and affections ? 

Do I improve in my temper by becoming more 
meek, gentle, forgiving, and kind ? 

Have I learned to combine more of the generous 
and free spirit of Christian liberty with an equal ad- 
vance in holiness ? 

Am I more anxious about universal and unvary- 
ing: consistency of conduct ? 

Is it more and more my concern to be active and 
useful ? 

Withal, do I increase in humility ? Have I a 
deeper and deeper sense of miy own shortcomings, 
and a growing disposition to think better of others, 
and lowlier of myself? 

Test yourself, very searchingly, by such questions 
aa these. 



CHAPTER m. 

THE MEANS OF PROGRESS. 

This is of unspeakable importance. I loill sup- 
pose that some by the reading of the foregoing 
pages begin to see this subject in a light in which 
they never saw it before. I will suppose that a 
new anxiety has come up in the mind now the old 
one is allayed, and that the great question at present 
is not, " What shall I do to be saved ?" but '' What 
shall I do to be sanctified V We have already said 
that means must be used. But what means ? 

1. There must be a deep conviction of the necessity 
and importance of progress^ and an intense desire to 
attain it. 

The subject must lay hold of the mind and pos- 
sess the heart. Will a man increase in knowledge, 
in wealth, in influence, who has no desire after it ? 
What object ever was or can be obtained without a 
conviction of its value or a wish to secure it ? Is it 
not the desire that originates the effort, and will 
not exertion ever be in proportion to the iiitensity 
of desire ? What prodigious and wonderful efforts 
have men put forth after an object upon which tlieir 
hearts were set ? Look at the tradesman : how will 
he toil, rising up early and sitting up late, and 
eating the bread of carefulness to increase his trade. 
Look at the student panting after knowledge : how 
will he consume his days and trim his midnight 
lamp to increase his scientific stores. Look at the 
hero : braving all the dangers of the field, and the 
hardships of the campaign, to increase his fame and 

1 



74 THE MEANS 

to acquire glory — which is but the name vanity 
turned into an idol. Why, why all this intense 
energy ? Because they have a deep, but mistaken 
sense of the importance of the object of pursuit, 
and an absorbing and overheated desire to possess 
it. And on the contrary, why is it that so few 
professing Christians do not make progress, and 
indeed make no efforts to obtain it ? Why ? Be- 
cause they care nothing about it. To take up a 
profession is all they desire — but to proceed from 
one degree of piety to another — to grow in grace — 
to go on unto perfection — is no part of their ambi- 
tion. How many are there to whom if we were to say, 
"Well, now you call yourself a Christian, and wish 
others to consider you as such, and you are of course 
eagerly desirous of making continual advances in 
knowledge, faith, and holiness ; and we shall see 
you evidently becoming more and more like Christ :" 
— who, I say, if w^e should thus address them, would 
look wonderingly in our face as if they did not 
comprehend our meaning ; or reproachfully, as if we 
questioned their sincerity ; or contemptuously, as 
if we were indulging in enthusiasm, or mysticism, 
and wished them to be as ^dsionary as ourselves. 
Of course such a frame of mind, and such views as 
these, are adverse to all progress. There must then 
be concern about the matter. And shall there be 
none 1 What, no solicitude to have more of the 
knowledge of truth, of faith in Christ, of likeness to 
G od, of meetness for heaven ! No desire to advance 
in such things! Is it possible to be a Christian 
and yet destitute of this ? No, it is not. I tell you, 
it is not. If you have no concern to gi-ow, there is 
no life in you. You are a piece of dead wood, and 
not a living branch : a spiritual corpse, and not a 



OF PROGRESS. 15 

living man. In this state there can be no growth, 
for dead things never grow. While on the other 
hand, the very desire will ensure the possession 
of its object. 

2. You must enter deeply into that beatitude of 
our Lord, which says, " Blessed are they luhich do 
hunger and thirst after righteousness : for they shall 
be filled." — Matt. v. 6. This is a passage too much 
overlooked and forgotten by most professing Chris- 
tians. Its terms are exceedingly strong, its senti- 
ment amazingly important. Among all the appe- 
tites of our animal nature none is so strong — none 
so imperiously demands supply — none so constantly 
returns — none inflicts such suffering when not sup- 
plied, as this of hunger and thirst. And this is the 
appetite which, in the figurative language of Scrip- 
ture, is selected to express the vehement desire we 
should feel after righteousness or holiness : and it is 
not only one of our natural instincts of this kind, but 
both hunger and thirst, that are spoken of. It is 
not the faint and feeble desire which by one filled 
almost to repletion is felt after some luxury, which, 
if it be not obtained, the person can do very w^ell 
without. Oh, no ; but the insatiable, unappeasable 
desire of the empty, hungry stomach, after necessary 
food, that is employed. Such should be the longing 
of every renewed soul after holiness. Righteous- 
ness should be to it that which is bread is to the body, 
and in reference to which we should say, " Evermore 
give us this bread." Instead of those longings after 
earthly blessings which characterize the worldly mind 
— those pantings after w^ealth, honor, and pleasure, 
which excite such energies and call forth such acti- 
vities, the mind of the believer should be intent on 
spiritual blessings. No measure of holiness to which 



Y6 THE MEANS 

he has already attained should satisfy him. There 
are sins yet to be mortified, and he must not be con- 
tent till they are dead. There are heights of moral 
excellence above him which he has not reached, and 
he should long to climb up to them. What he has 
yet attained to are but as crumbs to a hungiy man, 
who longs for the full meal, or drops of w^ater to a 
thirsty one, who pants for the copious draught. It 
is astonishing and affecting to see with what low 
degrees of righteousness some professors are satis- 
fied. How little they seem to have of the spirit of 
holiness. How very little is there of forgetting the 
things that are behind, and pressing forward to 
greater things yet! How many are there who are 
contented with the average piety of the church and 
the age, and seem only anxious to stand well in the 
estimation of their fellow-Christians who are no 
better than themselves. How few are there whom 
nothing can satisfy but an ever-growing conformity 
to the divine image ! 

Perhaps there is in some persons a sad disposi- 
tion to pervert and abuse a passage of most instruc- 
tive, and encouraging, and cautionary import: I 
mean the question which was asked concerning the 
small beginnings in the erection of the second tem- 
ple at Jerusalem, " Who hath despised the day of 
small things V — Zech. iv. 10. This has been applied 
also in a spiritual way to the commencement of reli- 
gion in the soul ; and we are told that little grace 
is better than none at all : that faith is still faith 
though it be weak, just as diamonds are diamonds 
and gold is gold, though it be in small pieces. Or, 
to return to the idea already dwelt upon, life is life 
though it be but that of a babe, and therefore is not 
to be despised. We know it and admit it. But then 



OF PROGRESS. 77 

if little things are not to be despised, ought great 
ones to be so treated ? And is not satisfaction with 
little things, when great ones may be obtained, to 
despise the latter ? Be it so, that fragments of gold 
and diamonds are not to be rejected, yetw^ho arc con- 
tented with the dust of either when they might have 
ingots of the one, or large and costly jewels of the 
other ? No ; the least measure of holiness is 7iot to 
be despised. It contains a powerful principle of ex- 
pansion and enlargement. Does the gardener despise 
the germ of the flower, or the seed of a plant, or the 
acorn of the oak ? Or does the parent despise the 
day of small things in the life of his babe ? No ; 
but then neither the gardener, nor the parent, is 
satisfied with the day of small things. So neither 
should the Christian. It is well, therefore, to con- 
sider, as Barnes, the commentator, remarks, that 
there is no piety in the world which is not the result 
of cultivation, and which cannot be increased by the 
degree of care and attention bestowed upon it. No 
one becomes eminently pious, any more than any 
one becomes eminently rich or learned who does not 
intend it ; and ordinarily men are, in religion, what 
they intend to be. They have about as much reli- 
gion as they wish, and possess about the characters 
which they design to possess. When men reach ex- 
traordinary elevations in religion, like Baxter, Pay- 
son, and Edwards, they have gained only what they 
meant to gain ; and the gay and worldly professors 
of religion, who have little comfort and peace, have 
in fact the characters which they designed to have. 
3. Great attention to self-cultivation spiritually 
considered, is a means of growth. By this I mean 
what is expressed in one or two passages of Scrip- 
ture ; such, for instance, as the exhortation, " Keep 

7* 



78 THE MEANS 

thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the 
issues of life." — Prov. iv. 23. It is the heart, the 
great vital spring of the soul — the fountain of 
actions — the centre of principle — the seat of motives ; 
the heart, where are the thoughts and feelings out 
of which conduct comes. It is this that must be 
the first, chief, constant object of solicitude to the 
Chi'istian. It is this which God sees, and as God 
sees it, and because God principally looks at it, that 
must be ever uppermost in our concern. To keep 
the heart must mean exerting oui^elves with great 
earnestness, in dependence upon Divine grace, to 
preserve it in a good state : laboring to preserve 
its vitality, vigor, and purity. We must often ask 
the question, " l7i what state is my heart ? Are my 
thoughts and affections in a good spiritual condi- 
tion." It is, in another view of it, the citadel of the 
soul : if this be neglected, the enemy at the gates 
will soon be in and take possession. Set a watch, 
therefore, upon the heart. Let the sentinel be never 
off duty, nor sleeping at his post. Keep out evil 
thoughts, and unholy affections, and vile imagina- 
tions. Without great vigilance they will elude ob- 
servation. As soon as an enemy of this kind is 
detected, he must be seized and made captive, till 
every thought is brought into subjection to Christ. 
As the state of the heart is, so is the man in reality, 
and before God. Discipline the heart then."^ 

But there is a second passage well worthy the 
attention of all young converts, I mean where Paul 
exhorts Timothy thus, " Exercise thyself unto godli- 
ness." — 1 Tim. iv. 7. The word in the original is 
very strong, and might be rendered by a free trans- 

* On this subject see an admirable volume lately published, enti- 
tled " Heart Discipline," by my friend, the Rev. James Cooper. 



OF PROGRESS. ^9 

lation, " practise gymnastic exercises in religion," liko 
the ancient competitors in the Olympic games. We 
say also of soldiers in the early stage of their training, 
" they are practising their exercise,^'' They are being 
trained in what they do not previously know, and 
cannot perform without being taught ; and to learn 
which, and do it well, requires a great deal of labor. 
So it is with the Christian, he must in all that con- 
cerns true godliness, learn his exercise^ and be often 
thus engaged. Religion and religious progress can- 
not be acquired without great pains. As a man 
cannot be at once a good soldier, while he is a young 
recruit, and before he has been drilled upon the 
parade ground, so no one can be an eminent Christian 
as soon as he is converted, and before he has been 
at his drilling. Self-improvement in knowledge by 
the student, and in business by the tradesman, are 
the result of great painstaking. I^o one can expect 
advancement without labor. It is astonishing^ and 
affecting to see how little anxiety there is among 
many to improve themselves in religion. 

4. One great means of progress is a constant^ 
eaimest^ and spiritual attendance upon all the ap- 
pointed means of growth. 

Private Prayer is essentially necessary. " And 
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 
which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in 
secret shall reward thee openly." — Matt. vi. 6. A 
spirit of prayer is so essential to personal religion, 
that it may as certainly be said that it is a dead soul 
in which there is not this spirit, as it may of the body 
that it is a corpse in which there is no breath. 
Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with 
God — the converse of one heart with another. 



80 THE MEANS 

Prayer requires retireraent : a real Christian must be 
often alone with God. No one can make progress 
without much prayer. Religion is a plant that for 
growth must be often removed into the shade. It 
will be scorched and wither if it be always kept in 
the broad sunshine of publicity. It is the private 
intercourse of friends that increases their friendship. 
None can progress in love to God without this pri- 
vate communion. There must be time found and 
fixed for prayer, and the time fixed must be kept. 
That which is left to be done at any time, is likely 
to be done at no time. There is nothing about which 
a young Christian should be more anxious than main- 
taining the spirit, the love, the practice of private 
prayer ; and nothing which should more seriously 
alarm him than any disposition to neglect this. He 
who makes any excuse for omitting the appointed 
hour of visiting a friend must be in a fair way to 
lose all regard for him. 

But there are also public as well as private means 
to be observed. You must " Rememher the Sahhath 
day to keep it holyP How necessary a right, though 
not a gloomy or superstitious, observance of this day 
is to the preservation and strengthening of our piety 
is attested by the experience of others, and not less 
so by our own. It is true it is a feast, and not a 
fast, day, and should be kept in the spirit of the 
New and not of the Old covenant ; that is, with joy 
and freedom, and not with gloom and bondage. 
Still it must be serious joy. He w^ho passes his 
Sabbaths in frivolous conversation, and levity of 
spirit; who is not devout in his attendance upon 
the means of grace ; who does not make the best 
of the precious opportunity to improve his religious 
condition ; who conducts himself much as on other 



OF PROGRESS. 81 

days, except that he does not buy and sell, and 
goes once or twice to the house of God, cannot 
expect to get on in religion. Tell me how a pro- 
fessor spends his sabbaths, and I will tell you in 
what state his soul is — spiritually considered. 

A Christian ought to be, and I am supposing he 
is, a communicant at the table of the Lord. If he is 
not, he ought to be. It is by way of eminence the 
ordinance. Apart from any superstitious notion of it, 
it is a solemn and impressive solemnity. As crea- 
tures formed to be moved, as well as instructed, 
through the medium of the senses, we are likely to 
be affected by those symbols of the body and blood 
of Christ, which, with such aw^ful, though silent elo- 
quence, speak to the ear of faith of him who is thus 
set forth crucified before us. Perhaps there is no 
ordinance of God, which when observed in a proper 
frame of mind speaks so forcibly to our hearts, and 
operates so powerfully upon our whole souls as this. 
There, believer, there, renew your faith in the cruci- 
fied Saviour ; there, increase your love as you see 
his love so strikingly exhibited ; and, there, by the 
mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacri- 
fice, holy, acceptable, and well-pleasing to God. 
There, consecrate yourself afresh each time to his 
service as his faithful devoted servant. What pro- 
gress can you expect to make if you neglect this 
institute so expressly set up, that through feeding 
by faith on the great sacrifice offered for you upon 
the cross, you might be " strengthened wdth all 
might by the Spirit in the inner man V 

Connected with this, is an attendance upon the 
solemnities oi public worship, None who make any 
pretensions to religion can altogether neglect these. 
All such persons are there some part of the Sabbath. 



82 THE MEANS 

But is it not too obvious to be denied, that modern 
habits of suburban residence in large towns are in- 
troducing a most injurious partial neglect of public 
worship. Once on the Sabbath-day, and never in 
the week, is all the attendance some give at the 
house of God. Can there be progress where this 
is the case ? Can the soul be strong and healthy 
upon such scanty fare as one meal a week 1 They 
who would grow in grace, must love the habitation 
of God's house : must have the one desire of David 
to see God's power and glory in the sanctuary : must 
know something at least of what he felt when he 
said, "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, 
so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul 
thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall 
I come and appear before God?" — Psalm xlii. 1, 2. 
It is the man who loves the house of God ; who 
will put himself to some little inconvenience, and 
will make some sacrifices of ease to be there ; who 
is likely to profit by the appointed means. It is 
those that are planted in the courts of the Lord who 
shall flourish, and not those who are only occasion- 
ally there. 

And then how much depends upon the frame of 
mind in which, and the purpose for which, this 
attendance is carried on. There is a manner of 
attending upon the means of grace, which instead 
of benefitting the soul does it great harm. Gospel 
sermons and the richest devotional services may 
harden the heart instead of sanctifying it, and be a 
savor of death unto death instead of life unto life. 
Let us never forget that to be profited^ that is to be 
spiritually improved in knowledge, faith, holiness, 
joy, and love, is the end of hearing sermons, and 
not merely to have our taste gratified by genius, 



OF PROGRESS. 83 

eloquence, and oratory. I know scarcely any thing 
of more importance to put before a young Christian 
than the necessity, in order to a healthful state of 
religion, of a right end and object in hearing the 
Word of God. We live in an age when talent is 
idolized, and genius adored. This is, " the image 
of jealousy which maketh jealous" in the temple oi 
the Lord. With too many it is not the truth of 
God that is thought of, valued, and delighted in 
but the talent of man with which it is set forth. 
Now we admit that it is almost impossible not to 
admire, and be ajffected by, genius. Mind must 
admire the nobler exhibitions of mind : and cultivated 
intellects cannot put up with the crude effusions of 
ignorance or dulness. To such persons, it is not 
only offensive to taste, but to piety, to hear such 
sublime and glorious themes as the gospel contains 
set forth in the mean and tattered habiliments of 
vulgar language and mean thought. Who would 
like to have the richest delicacies served-up on the 
meanest or broken earthenware ? Even in regard to 
books, elegant typography and good paper add to 
the pleasure of reading, even where the matter is in- 
structive, and the subj ect of perusal is interesting But 
it would argue an ill-regulated mind, in the one 
case, to be fonder of the elegance of the dish than 
of the good food which it contains ; and in the 
other, of the type, paper, and binding of the book, 
than of the momentous subject on which it treats. 
It is scarcely possible to give a more important 
piece of advice to one setting out on the ways of 
God than our Lord's words, "Take heed how 
you hear." We should hear sermons with some- 
thing of the same state of mind, and for the same 
purpose, as we should directions from a physician 



84 THE MEANS 

concerning our health — or from a lawyer how to 
avert an impending sentence of death. 

Intimate converse with the Word of God is essen- 
tial to progress. We must neither neglect nor idolize 
the preacher. The sermon in the house of God, 
must not displace the Bible from our hand. To be 
contented with the public ministry, without the 
private searching of the Bible, is virtually so far to 
turn Papists, or at any rate to act like them. It is 
painful to think how little use multitudes make of 
their Bibles. It is a question which might bring a 
blush, or ought to do, upon many a professor's 
cheek, " How many chapters of God's holy Word 
have you read the last week or month ?" Not that 
the Scriptures should be merely read, for the sake 
of being read. Some no doubt prescribe to them- 
selves the task of reading so many chapters every 
day: and perhaps with much the same motive as 
the Papist repeats his Ave Marias, or his Paternos- 
ters : as a kind of penance. This is not what we 
mean : and we would at once suggest, that as in 
eating it is not the quality of food taken into the 
stomach, but the quantity that can be digested, 
which keeps up our strength and promotes our 
health : so it is not the quantity of Scripture read, 
"but the quantity studied, understood, and applied, 
that does us good. One verse pondered upon, felt, 
applied, is better than a whole chapter or book, 
read negligently, thoughtlessly, and without self- 
application. Not that a verse a day is enough 
spiritual food for any one. It may be feared that 
not a few have abused those little manuals of piety 
got up for the edification of persons who really can- 
not command time for much reading ; I mean the 
"Text-a-day" books, which are now so common. 



OF PROGRESS. 85 

Surely they who can command time, should hardly 
be satisfied with such a crumb of the bread of life as 
this. A real, devout, and intelligent study of the 
Scriptures, then, is essential to great progress in the 
life of God. " Man liveth not by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 
To every young convert, therefore, we say, " Search 
the Scriptures daily. Meditate on the law of God 
day and night. Try how much of the Word of 
God you can understand, and what is more, try how 
much you can practise. Study the Word of God 
with prayer for divine teaching. Take up David's 
petition, ' Open thou mine eyes that I may be- 
hold wondrous thino*s out of thv law.' .Eemember 
this also — there is much con-uption in your heart 
generating a false bias — and beclouding your judg- 
ment, and likely therefore to lead you to misconcep- 
tion and error. Beseech of God to send forth his 
Spirit into your heart to pm-ify it from depravity, 
that your understanding may be better preserved 
from error. Enter deeply into the meaning and 
spirit of that remarkable saying of our Lord, " If 
any man will do his (God's ) will, he shall know of 
the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether T 
speak of myself." — John vii, 17. In this important 
passage we arc taught that the disposition of the 
heart has much to do with the ™ws and opinions 
of the irftellect. In all moral questions it must be 
so. A sincere wish and purpose to do the will of 
God, will be our best way to Icnow the mind of God. 
An honest heart is the most likely means to gain a 
correct judgment. True it is, that we must in some 
degree know the mind of God in order to do his 
will, but a desire to do his will, is also the way to 
know it more perfectly. W^e must have knowledge 

8 



S6 THE MEANS 

to produce holiness, but holiness will prepare us for 
more knowledge. And the knowledge we acquire in 
this way will be of a spiritual and experimental kind. 
We must give up all pre-conceived ideas, all preju- 
dices, all pride of intellect, and go in humility to 
the Scriptures as learners. 

5. A deep conviction and ever-present sense of the 
need of the Holy Spirit^ accompanied by a constant 
dependence upon him, is indispensable to progress in 
the divine life. Without this the soul can no more 
grow in grace, than the produce of the earth can be 
brought forth without the genial influences of the 
heavens. Whatever means are used, and all cove- 
nanted and appropriate ones must be used, still oui 
dependance for their efficiency must be u^pon God's 
blessing. Hence says the apostle : " If we live m 
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." — Gal. v. 
25. First, as in the body, there must be the prin- 
ciple of life, then the activities of that principle. 
And in both natural and spiritual existence, it may 
be said, in God we live and move and have our being. 
Agreeably also to this, is the other exhortation of 
the same apostle, " Work out your salvation with 
fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in 
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." — 
Phil. ii. 13. This is one of the most instructive and 
important passages of the New Testament. Now, it 
must be observed that this was addressed'to those 
who were supposed to be Christians, who were 
already saved, though not formally and finally pos- 
sessed of salvation ; and yet they are commanded 
to work out their salvation. Of course, therefore, 
it did not mean works for justification, for this was 
already completed. It means, " Go on working 
in your sanctification, with a view to the end of your 



OF PROGRESS. S*! 

faith, the salvation of your souls. Go on earnestly 
in the way of holy walking, even to the close of life, 
for though you cannot be saved by and for your 
works, you cannot be saved without them : nor can 
you be saved unless you continue in them to the end." 
This is also to be done with " fear and trembling," 
that is with all that deep solicitude which he might 
be supposed to feel, who knows he has so impor- 
tant an interest at stake as an immortal soul. The 
most confident hope that we are in a state of salva- 
tion should not, in the smallest degree, abate our 
solicitude about our salvation. But now observe the 
motive : " For it is God that worketh in you both to 
will and to doP God's workino- is not mentioned 
as a reason why we should not work ourselves, but 
as an inducement to engage us in an earnest and 
diligent co-operation with him. The meaning is, 
God exerts a certain influence upon our minds to 
produce a certain effect on us : that effect is, " to 
will," that is to " choose" to be holy ; " to do," that is 
to perform holy actions. This effect in us is the end 
and purpose of his influence upon us. It is not God 
who wills and acts for us, but we who will and act 
ourselves under his influence. The mode of this 
divine influence we cannot explain. It is not 2i phy- 
sical force, such as is exerted on passive unintelligent 
matter ; nor is it the mere moral force of persuasion, 
such as one man exerts upon another by mere argu- 
ment and entreaty ; but it is an influence of a pecu- 
liar kind, and peculiar to this subject, the operation 
of the Di\dne Spirit upon the human mind, causing 
it to understand and yield to the power of truth as 
set forth in the Gospel, and addressed to man's 
intellect. We see in this passage, then, what every 
young convert should very distinctly notice and con- 



88 THE MEANS 

stantly remember, tlie union of human activity and 
divine agency. We can do nothing good for our- 
selves Avithout God's grace working in us, and God's 
grace never works in us but to lead us to do that 
which is good ourselves. We are not to sit down in 
indolent inactivity waiting for God's grace to set us 
upon working ; but are without delay to begin work- 
ing in a spirit of dependence upon God's grace. 
The husbandman sows his seed in expectation of the 
co-operation of the influences of the heavens ; and 
so must the Christian go to his work. God's grace 
comes not upon the idle, but upon the diligent. 

Christians in the early stage of their religious ex- 
perience are but too apt to fall into one or other of 
the extremes of leaving God to do all, or attempting 
to do all themselves. The most common error is the 
latter. Full of the ardor of first love, they make 
resolutions, lay down plans, enter upon a course of 
action, too often in their own strength. They soon 
meet with checks and defeats. Their resolutions 
are broken, their plans frustrated, and their course 
impeded by unsuspected difficulties or successful 
temptations. Disheartened and discouraged, they 
are ready to give all up, and walk the ways of God 
no more. Let them rather learn the lesson of the 
great apostle who said, "When I am weak then 
am I strong ;" or that other lesson, " Yet not I, but 
the grace of God in me." "Be strong in the Lord 
and in the power of his might. ''^ You cannot be too 
active as regards your own efforts ; you cannot be 
too dependant as regards divine grace. Do every- 
thing as if God did nothing : depend upon God as 
if he did everything. Hence, do all in a spirit of 
prayer. Go to every sermon, every book, especially 
the Bible, every eff'ort in a spirit of pray^»\ This is 



OF PROGRESS. 89 

to pervade everyttiing. Prayer is the golden thread 
that is to rim through all our actions, stringing them 
altoofether, and suspending them all upon the hand 
of God. 

6. The company^ conversation^ and fellowship of 
established and earnest Christians^ will be of great 
service to the young disciple. " As iron sharpeneth 
iron ; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his 
friend." — Pro v. xxvii. 17. The allusion is familiar, 
but it is very illustrative. The knife v^hetted upon 
the steel acquires a sharper edge. By the inter- 
course of friends of congenial minds, knowledge is 
communicated from the more to the less intelligent : 
animation, encouragement, and courage from the 
lively and the sanguine to the dull, the timid, and 
the gloomy : caution, wisdom, and modesty, from the 
more to the less prudent and discreet : and exhilara- 
tion from the joyful to the sad. Thus the sympathies 
of friendship are made conducive to the advantage 
of those who enjoy them. Sharpening indeed must 
have been the intercourse with Christ on the way 
to Emmaus, when the hearts of the disciples burned 
within them, as he opened their understandings to 
know the Scriptures. Even the Apostle Paul himself, 
great and illustrious as he was, did not feel himself 
lifted above these sympathies of Christian friendship ; 
even he was so cheered by the conference and coun- 
tenance of friends, that he longed to be " somewhat 
filled with their company ;" and when, in a moment 
of dejection, on his way to Rome, he saw the three 
brethren who had "come to meet him as far as 
Appii Forum and The Three Taverns," he recovered 
from his depression, "thanked God, and took 
courage." Hence, then, the necessity and advantage 
of Christian fellowship and religious fr-iendship, and 

8* 



90 THE MEANS 

I seriously and earnestly advise all young converts 
to cultivate it. They should not remain in solitude, 
having none with whom to exchange their thoughts, 
feelings, and solicitudes on those momentous topics 
which have lately possessed their minds. It is not 
good for them in this situation " to be alone." Soli- 
tary and secluded piety, like the fire of a single coal, 
burns feebly ; but like that is more easily kept alive 
and kindled to a flame by contact with other coals. 
Great care, however, is necessary in the selection 
of companions. This is true in reference to all stages 
of our Christian history, but especially to the first. 
Those who are established in the divine life can bear 
with less injury the influence of persons whose taste, 
habits, and conversation are uncongenial with the 
spirit of true piety, than can the young convert. It 
is therefore important he should choose for his asso- 
ciates not only those who are truly ^ but those who 
are eminently pious. There is among those whom 
we may hope to be sincere in their profession a very 
great difl'erence as regards the degree of their personal 
godliness. As there are those who are only almost 
Christians, there are others of whom it may be said, 
they are only just Christians. While the former 
seem only just without the line of demarcation be- 
tween the converted and unconverted, the latter only 
just loithin it. Their attainments are so slender — 
their religion is so feeble — their conversation and 
spirit are so worldly and trifling — that it is diflicult 
to determine their real spiritual character. These 
are not the associates which will help on the young 
believer. They will damp his zeal and cool his first 
love. It will be like plunging his knife into earth, 
which instead of sharpening it, will take ofl" its edge ; 
or like bearing his newly-lighted taper into foul air, 



OF PROGRESS. 91 

which will cause it to burn dimly, if it does not ex- 
tinguish it. Instead of this, the inquirer after holi- 
ness and higher sanctification should associate with 
those who are as earnest as himself, or even more 
so, whose intelligence will instruct him ; whose ex- 
ample will guide him ; whose conversation will in- 
spire him ; whose cautions will warn him. Let him 
seek companions whose society will be as a prop 
round which his own young plant can entwine itself 
for support and growth, and by whose friendly aid 
his yet feeble tendrils shall be well sustained. 

Y. Religious reading is of great service to all, 
whether old or young in the Christian life. The 
Bible, I know, is the book of books, and should be 
supplanted by no other. But we would not imitate 
the conduct of the Caliph Omar, who committed 
the library of Alexandria to the flames, under the 
absurd idea that if the books contained only what 
was approved by the Koran, they were useless ; if 
what was contrary to it, they were pernicious. Our 
religious literature is as valuable as it is extensive. 
If it contains no other religious truth than that 
which is in the Bible, which if it be orthodox, 
of course it cannot, it is still immensely valuable, 
as explaining and enforcing that which is in the 
Bible. It is one part of the creed of Popery 
that the Bible does not contain the whole Word 
of God, for tradition is a part of it ; and we scruple 
not to aver that their oral law is in many things 
opposed to the written one. We reject all such un- 
authorized and wicked attempts to corrupt the 
Divine testimony, and abide close to the written 
law or holy Scripture. But though we deny autho- 
rity to the works of men, we attach great importance 
to them as eminently useful in helping you to 



92 THE MEANS 

undertsaud the Word of God, and therefore earnestly 
recommend the perusal of them. To pretend to 
select from the flood of publications which is flow- 
ing in upon us in this extraordinary age any works 
that might be recommended, would be difficult and 
unnecessary, and had better be left to the counsel 
of those ministers with whom all young disciples 
are connected, and who, from a knowledge of their 
state of mind, or advance in religious subjects, might 
be supposed better to understand wdiat is suitable for 
them. They who are really anxious for progress in 
the divine life, will not content themselves with the 
parlor reading of w^hatever religious books or periodi- 
cals may happen to be thrown in their way, but 
will have some biographical or devotional work, as 
a kind of closet companion, the pages of which will 
be prayerfully read in those seasons of retirement 
when the soul secludes herself from all human 
society to converse with God. 

8. Occasional seasons of extraordinary devotion^ self- 
examination and humiliation will be found eminently 
conducive to progress. I am of course supposing, 
for I have already prescribed it, that a regular course 
of private prayer is kept up. But we all know that 
regularity is apt to degenerate into formality ; and 
what is customary, into mere routine. There may 
be the most exact order, and the most constant 
observance of religious exercises, and yet there may 
be nothing better than a dull round of observances. 
Hence it is indispensable that there should be occa- 
sional seasons of unusual devotion, when the soul 
shall take as exact account as it can of its state and 
condition. What has been already said on the sub- 
ject of an excessive anxiety about our growth leading 
to almost a neglect of the means of progress, in ar 



OF PROGRESS. 93 

inquiry into the reality of progress, should be borne 
in mind. But still occasional examination into the 
state of our profession cannot be wrong, but must 
be right. A tradesman who is always taking stock, 
under a fidgetty anxiety about his trade would 
only divert his attention from that industry and 
persevering effort which are essential to success. 
Still he ought occasionally to do this, or how else 
can he know how he is going on, or whether he is 
not going back. So also a nervous person always 
fearful about his health, and ever inquisitive into 
symptoms, and poring into books to see how ill he 
is, instead of using all the means of obtaining and 
preserving health, is not very likely ever to be well. 
Yet sometimes, provided it does not occur too 
often, or hinder him from present duties, he may in- 
quire whether some chronic complaints are giving 
way, and whether his constitution is strengthening. 
We surely ouo-ht not to be less anxious about our 
souFs health than we are about that of our body ; 
and thouofh a relioious nervousness about their soul, 
which really does distress some good people, should 
not be fostered, still an occasional examination into 
our spiritual condition ought to be instituted, and 
is really essential to progress. I don't see how we 
are to know what corruptions exist and are to be 
mortified, or what graces languish and need to be 
revived, without occasional more minute inspection 
than we give to the subject in our ordinary conduct. 
In this age when secular matters are so pressing, I 
may say, so engrossing and absorbing ; when busi- 
ness so encroaches on devotion, and the time formerly 
given to the closet is taken away to be given to the 
shop ; when all men are living in a hurry, and life 
itself is one constant bustle ; surely, I say, at such 



$4 THE MEANS 

a time as this, it is necessary sometimes to step 
out of the circle, and to enter the closet for pressing 
home upon the conscience the momentous question, 
"How I am going on in Aiy heavenly course?" 
Such seasons may be found, and if it can be at no 
other time, and in no other way, it is worth while 
to give up occasionally a sermon, and to spend the 
hour or two which would be otherwise devoted to 
that exercise in solitary communion with our own 
heart — with our Bible — and with our God. 

9. This enumeration would be incomplete were I to 
leave out from it, as a means of progress, those various 
afflictive events with which it pleases God sometimes 
to try, to shake, and ultimately to settle and 
strengthen the faith of his people. Plants and trees 
not unfrequently, in very dry seasons, require water- 
ing at the time of, or soon after, their planting ; and, 
indeed all vegetable life depends much on the rain 
and the dew for their growth. Hence God said to 
the Jews, " I will be as the dew unto Israel." Con- 
stant sunshine, especially for youthful vegetation, is 
unfriendly to prosperity. Hence God sometimes sees 
it necessary to darken the soul with cloud shadows, 
and cause the clouds themselves to pour down their 
contents on the young convert. Disappointed hopes 
of a worldly nature, frustrated schemes of happiness, 
and bodily sickness, even thus early, come on some 
persons, all the more painful and depressing because 
occurring at the outset of life. " ^¥hat," says the 
early sufferer, " must I so soon prove how treacherous 
are the smiles of the world ? So soon learn by expe- 
rience that man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly 
upward ? Must my very morning of life be over- 
cast, and the first stage of my journey be amidst 
storms ? Is my destiny so soon developed to be one 



OF PROGRESS. 95 

of grief and lamentation ?" Hush those complaints — 
dry those tears — dismiss this foreboding, my young 
friend. It is wisdom, though you cannot understand 
it ; and mercy, though you cannot at present see it. 
Have you never read what is said by the weeping 
'-^rophet, '' It is good for a man that he bear the yoke 
m his youth." — Lam. iii. 24. Observe, it is not 
said, it is "pleasant," but "good." At the very 
outset of life take up the conviction that everything 
is good for us that is good for our souls ; and that 
God is the best judge of what is good for them. 
That very disappointment or other kind of affliction 
which cost you so many tears — such sleepless nights 
— such distress by days, was just the thing which 
your heavenly Father saw to be necessary at that 
time for your spiritual benefit. You were concerned 
about religion, and seemed in earnest ; but you were 
in danger of being too much taken up with the world 
which had come out to meet you on your way with 
smiling face and open arms. The syren song had 
sent its music into your ears, and you were all but 
ravished and ruined by the strain. And then God, 
by the affliction he sent upon you, warned you of 
your danger, and plucked you from its jaws. Many 
in your situation have been treated in the same man- 
ner, and have at length been compelled to say — 

" Foolish and vain I went astray, 
Ere I had felt thy scourges, Lord ; 
I left my guide, and lost my way, 
But now I love and keep thy word." 

You recollect, perhaps, what God said to the Jews, 
" I spake unto thee in thy prosperity ; but thou 
saidst, I will not hear : this hath been thy manner 
from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice." 
— Jer. xxii. 21. It required a change of circum- 



9® THE MEANS 

stances to bring them to a right mind : and that 
change came and effected its own gracious purpose. 
Perhaps this may have been the case with you. Full 
of the buoyancy and eager expectation of youth, it 
was not hkely rehgion could flourish in such a state 
of mind as that, and as God had purposes of mercy 
towards you he sent trials, that he might effect his 
gracious designs. How strikingly is it said of Israel, 
" I will go and return to my place till they acknow- 
ledge their offence, and seek my face ; in their afflic- 
tion they wdll seek me early." — Hos. v. 15. Yes, 
many, very many, will have cause through eternity 
to say — 

" Oh, hadst thou left me unchastised, 
Thy precepts I had still despised ; 
And still the snare, in secret laid, 
Had my unwary feet betrayed." 

I entreat you, therefore, to enter into God's gracious 
purpose, and thus gather grapes as it were from 
thorns, and figs from thistles, by rendering all 
your sorrows a means of progress in the divine life. 
Turn all these painful events to a good purpose to 
check your vanity, to curb your levity, and to esta- 
blish you in the ways of the Lord. Let them show^ 
you the need of religion as a source of consolation 
amidst the vicissitudes of life, the power of religion 
to support you under them, and its ineffable sweet- 
ness to console as well as to support. I just now 
compared affliction to water, for so is it often repre- 
sented in the Word of God ; but not less frequently 
is it compared also to the action of fire. Perhaps 
you know that in enamel painting upon china this 
agent is employed. The colors are laid on, and 
then the article is put into a small furnace, and sub- 
jected to considerable heat, which at once brings out 



OF PROGRESS. 97 

some of the colors more vividly, and gives fixed- 
ness and perpetuity to them all in the painting*. In 
delineating the divine image upon your soul, some- 
thing like this method of painting may by the divine 
hand be adopted, and the spiritual coloring may 
be burnt in and perpetuated by the furnace of afflio- 
tion. Consider it a mercy to have the work of grace 
carried on, though it be by a process so painful as this. 
It will be very clearly and it may be hoped im- 
pressively seen by these particulars, that real religion 
is a very great thing — a matter of immense impor- 
tance and requiring great exertion. No doubt many 
who have made a profession of it have formed very 
inadequate ideas of it, and are fearfully deceiving 
themselves, and it becomes all who shall read these 
pages, to inquire what they know of these things. 
Religion, as we have shown you, is a battle which 
requires complete armor, and the busy use of 
weapons, in order to secure a doubtful victory — 
a race in which many run, but in which few 
will gain the prize — a narrow path by which many 
shall seek to pass through the gate of life, and 
by which the few only who strive shall make good 
their entrance into the paradise of God. It is only 
by dint of painful and assiduous striving that salva- 
tion is at length secured, and just as the racer may 
be said scarcely to have won, who with the utmost 
power and fleetness makes good his distance by a 
hair's breadth of space, or within a moment of time, 
so is it said of the righteous by the apostle, that 
they are but ''' scarcely saved ^ — 1 Pet. iv. 18. This 
is a tremendous passage, and is enough to awaken 
" fear and tremblinof" in us all. The rio^hteous are 
scarcely saved ! They escape from the fire into safety, 
but as by a hair's breadth. How great is the 

9 



98 THE MEANS 

difficulty of bringing tliem first to be in earnest 
about salvation. How great the difficulty of keep- 
ing tbem from turning back and away amidst 
tlie temptations to sin, and the allurements of tlie 
world, by which they are surrounded. How difficult 
to rescue them from the power of the great adversary 
of souls. Through the internal struggles of the mind, 
and outward confficts of life, it often seems a matter 
of doubt whether, with all their efforts, they will be 
saved ; and when they are saved they will appear to 
themselves as mariners who have been rescued from 
shipwreck, who are amazed to see how near they 
seemed to destruction, and how unlikely to all human 
appearance it seemed at one time they should be 
saved at all. Oh, is this true ? then how compara- 
tively few^ are in the way to be saved. Where, we 
ask, are those who are comporting themselves in a 
way answerable to such a representation ? Eagerly, 
anxiously as for their lives, striving to flee from the 
wrath to come, and conscious that if they are saved, 
it will be so as by fire ? Amidst the multitudes who 
in this day are making a profession of religion, how 
rarely are they to be seen who are diligently plying at 
the task-work of Christianity ? Who are making a 
real business of their growing sanctification ? Who 
are laboring for heaven as if pursued by a conviction 
that without effort they will never reach it, and that 
even after their utmost labors they will but save 
their distance, and scarcely reach the goal to which 
they are tending ? Is it not time to sound the alarm, 
and especially in the cases of those who are just, 
according to their own declarations, setting out in 
the pursuit of eternal life ? 

If any on reading this should say, as did the 
apostles, ^' AVho then can be saved ?" I adopt our 



OF PROGRESS. 99 

Lord's reply, " With man it is impossible, but with 
God all things are possible." To every earnest soul 
Jesus says, " My grace is sufficient for thee." 

ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

Now turn back your attention upon the contents 
of this chapter, with even more solicitude, because 
of the greater importance of the subject, than you 
would in a time of bodily weakness upon some direc- 
tions which had been given you concerning your 
health. First of all however, ask with serious and 
earnest concern the questions : — 

Am I really so anxious to grow in grace as to be 
using all the necessary means for that purpose ? Am 
I ser\dug my soul as I do my body, that is, by being 
careful about my spiritual health, and adopting all 
proper measures, and diligently employing them to 
promote it ? Have I solicitude enough about this 
matter to be active and earnest in the use of means ? 

Do I really want to grow ? 

Do I hunger and thirst after righteousness ? 

Do I take pains for this self-cultivation ? 

Do I most constantly and seriously attend all the 
means of grace, public as well as private, and week 
days as well as Sabbath days ? 

^Do I constantly, devoutly, read and study the 
Holy Scriptures, not allowing other books to sup- 
plant the Bible ? And do I search them to be made 
more holy? 

Do I feel my need of the Holy Spirit's influence, 
and am I constantly wrestling with God to bestow 
it upon me ? 

Do I court the society of the more established and 
spiritual members of the family of God ? 



100 MISTAKES 



Do I set apart special times for self-examination, 
humiliation, and prayer ? 

Am I improved and made more holy and spiritual 
by my afflictions, disappointments, and vexations ? 

Reader, I beseech you, bring yourself to this 
touchstone. You cannot progress unless you are 
anxious to do so, and use the means. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MISTAKES CONCERNING PROGRESS. 

Suppose a man were on a journey v^hich was of 
considerable importance to all his temporal interests, 
on which it was every way desirable he should be 
going forward with all convenient speed. Imagine 
also that through some ignorance of the country, 
or through his want of acquaintance with his rate 
of speed, he should conclude that he was advancing 
towards his destined point, while at the same time, 
though in constant activity, he was making no pro- 
gress, but only wandering about in bye lanes and 
cross roads, and still remaining near the spot from 
whence he started. In such a case, he might lose 
the end and purpose of his journey. Now, there 
is something not unlike this in the course of 
some persons in regard to religion. They are in 
motion, but not in progress. The mistakes on this 
subject are very numerous, and require great pains 
in those who have to teach, to point them out ; 
and also attention on the part of all who have any 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 101 

solicitude about their spiritual welfare, in order to 
be acquainted with them. The temptations of the 
father of lies, aided by the deceitfulness of the human 
heart, originate many very injurious errors concern- 
ing our spiritual condition, and lull us into a state 
of complacency, where we ought to be deeply soli- 
citous and somewhat alarmed. 

1. It is not an unfrequent case for persons to con- 
clude they are advancing^ because they arenot^ in their 
own vieiu of their case, actually receding. They do 
not see any outward and visible signs of backsliding. 
They have fallen into no grievous sin, and have brought 
no blot upon their character, nor discredit upon their 
profession. They are not conscious of any known 
departure from the way of rectitude, and have not 
fallen from their steadfastness. Their usual round 
of duties is performed, and they have not subjected 
themselves, by any part of their conduct to rebuke 
or censure. All this may be so, and yet there may 
be no progress. Is it enough to stand still on 
our path ? Would it satisfy the man on the journey 
just alluded to, if he could merely say, " I am not 
going back V Would this prove he was advancing ? 
It may be said, and we have already said it, that in 
one sense not to advance is to recede. But were it 
not so, surely to stand still is not to go forward. 
Have you more knowledge, more holiness, more 
love, more spirituality, than you had ? Is your 
growth at cdl perceptible, though it be in ever so 
small a degree ? Do not compare yourselves with 
some who are rapidly going back, and imagine that 
in relation to them you are going forward, while you 
are standing still. Have you ever, when travelling 
in a steam carriage, while your own railway trail, 
was stopping at the station, and another was pass* 

9* 



102 MISTAKES 

ing slowly in a contrary direction, imagined tliat it 
was you that were in progress ? So is it in this case. 
You may be quite at rest, while, compared with 
others going back, you seem to be in motion for- 
wards. 

2. Some estimate progress hy the time they have 
been in motion. Suppose a person unacquainted 
with the rate of speed of a ship at sea, and not 
understanding the influence of contrary winds, and 
the process of getting slowly on by tacking, were 
to calculate thus, " We have been so many hours or 
days at sea, and we must therefore be so far on our 
voyage." Suppose the man on the journey to have 
fallen asleep, or loitered aw^ay his time, and then, 
taking out his watch, were to calculate that because 
he has left home so many hours, he must be getting 
on very well. Is there nothing like this in some 
professing Christians? It is so many months or 
years since they took up their standing as religious 
persons. They have been all this while regular 
attendants at public worship, and communicants at 
the Lord's Supper. They have heard already in- 
numerable sermons, and read many good books. 
They have outlived the novelties of a religious life, 
and the ways of God are now familiar to them. 
How can it be doubted, they say, that they who 
have been so long on the road are advancing ? Ah ! 
this is just calculating progress by time, rather than 
by distance. Be it known to you, that a professed 
Christian may be long, very long, in standing ; yes, 
and after all, it is but standing without going, A 
dead stick, however long it may be in the ground, 
will not grow. Finger-posts stand for ages, and 
measure distances for travellers, but never advance 
an inch Do not conclude, then, that because your 



CONCERNINa PROGRESS. 103 

conversion is supposed to have taken place long 
since, that, therefore, your sanctification must be 
far advanced. It is a pitiable sound, and argues an 
imbecile mind, as well as a diminutive body, to hear 
a poor dwarf cripple say, " I must be growing for I 
am ten years old." It may be, but everybody else 
sees that the poor child's stature never increases an 
inch. Let the Christian not think of the years he 
has lived, but the attainment he has made. The 
length of his profession ought to be attended by an 
advance in all that constitutes vital godliness, pro- 
portionate to the advantages he has enjoyed, and the 
time he has had them ; but alas, alas, how rarely is 
this the case ? In the orchard or vineyard, young 
trees may be growing when they bear no fruit, and 
a stranger may be ready to say they make no pro- 
gress : but the skilled gardener says, " Give them 
time and they will exhibit produce." And when 
they do bear fruit, it is in proportion to their age. 
In the garden of the Lord young plants ought to 
fructify immediately, and the fruits of righteousness 
should be also in proportion to their age. But is it 
so ? How many whose eye shall read these pages 
will blush, if they have any holy shame, to compare 
the date of their planting in the courts of the Lord, 
and the produce they yield. 

3 . There may be an increase of theoretic knowledge^ 
and of ability to talk with fluency upon the subjects 
of religion, and to defend the truth against gain- 
sayers, without any corresponding advance in spiritual 
feeling and holy conduct. There is a great deal of 
very interesting matter in the Bible, apart from its 
spiritual and vital power as God's instrument of 
sanctification. Its history, its poetry, its sublimity, 
its chronology, its eloquence, its prophecies, its 



] 04 MISTAKES 

pathos, all may become subjects of study, and even 
of delightful study, without faith in its doctrines, or 
obedience to its precepts. Thousands and thousands 
of volumes have been written on religion by men 
whose hearts were never under its power. Some of 
the noblest productions of sacred science have issued 
from the pens of those to whom, it is to be feared, 
it was all mere theory. Like brilliant lamps, they 
lighted others on their way to heaven, but never 
moved themselves : or to raise still higher the meta- 
phor, they were like light-houses, which directed 
ships on their course, but were stationary themselves. 
In more private life, and less important attainments, 
how many have made themselves acquainted with 
the theory of divine truth, as taught in books, 
sermons, articles, creeds and catechisms, so as to be 
able to explain the orthodox system of doctrine, and 
to argue for it, whose hearts have never been sancti- 
fied by the truth. And even where it may be hoped 
the great change has been wrought, and a start 
made for salvation and eternal life, there may be a 
growth in knowledge without a proportionate growth 
in grace. Many young persons are now happily 
engaged in Sunday-school teaching, the distribution 
of religious tracts, and various other operations of 
religious zeal, which give them of necessity a grow- 
ing acquaintance with the system of religious truth. 
They can talk with more fluency and correctness on 
divine things. History, doctrine, and precept, are 
all more familiar to them, and at the same time 
their thoughts are more drawn to the subject of 
religion generally as the matter of their teaching. 
Hence, there may seem to be to themselves a per- 
ceptible progress. And so there is in theory. But 
if at the same time there is no advance in holiness. 



COXCERNINa PROGRESS. 105 

Christian charity, conscientiousness, self-denial, and 
humility, these signs of advance may be, and are, 
all deceptive. Their knowledge has been collected, 
not as the materials of personal sanctity, but of 
activity. Such acquisitions may be only the " know- 
ledge which puffeth up," but not "the love that 
edifieth." 

There are persons whose acquaintance with Scrip- 
ture is surprising, and yet who, though they could 
quote most aptly from nearly all parts of the Bible, 
give too convincing proof that their knowledge is 
of the letter only, and not of the spirit. I knew a 
person who was so intimately acquainted with the 
Scriptures, that if you gave him any chapter or 
verse in most of the books of either the Old Testa- 
ment or New, he would immediately repeat the 
words; and yet he was altogether an unconverted 
man. And I was acquainted with another who was 
so fond of the study of prophecy that he became 
more conversant with the predictions of the books 
of Daniel and of the Apocalypse than any one I 
ever knew, who was at the same time entirely a 
man of the world. Yet there are many who regard 
this increasing acquaintance with the text of the 
Bible as an evidence of growth in grace. While, 
therefore, we would urge every young convert to 
make a longer and larger acquaintance with the 
Word of God, assuring them that there can be no 
growth in grace without some advance in knowledge, 
and that the more knowledge of it they have the 
more they are prepared to be useful, happy, and holy, 
provided they couple with it other things, yet that 
at the same time there may be large increase of know- 
ledge, without any growth in grace. Ask yourselves 
then the solemn question, and ask it solemnly too, 



106 MISTAKES 

whether in proportion as you store your minds with 
biblical texts and biblical ideas, you all the while are 
seeking to have your heart filled with biblical feel- 
ings, and your life with biblical actions ? Is your 
advancing light attended with increasing warmth ? 
As you grow in acquaintance with the character of 
God, do you reverence him more ? As your ideas 
brighten on the person of Christ, do you love him 
more ? As you become more acquainted with the 
perfection and spirituality of God's law, do you 
delight in it more and more after the inward man ? 
As you see more clearly the evil of sin, do you hate 
it with a more intense hatred ? As your horizon 
^videns, do you become more profoundly humble, 
more tenderly conscientious, more gentle, more 
spiritual? Unless this be the case you are in a 
fatal mistake by supposing you are making progress 
in the divine life, merely because you are advancing 
in biblical science. 

4. In some persons there is a growing hnowledge 
of their corruptions^ and perhaps, an increase of 
lamentation over them, unattended bg any disposition 
or effort to mortify them : and yet this growing light 
into the depravity of their nature, and this real 
vexation, for so it may be called, rather than godly 
sorrow, leads to no proportionate mortification of 
sin. There can be little doubt that many do know 
more and more of the plague of their own hearts, 
and are made continually more sorrowful by it, who 
content themselves with venting their unavailing 
regrets, and make no progi'ess in removing the evils 
they deplore, and yet conclude that this growing 
self-knowledge is an evidence of growing piety. So 
it would be if it were followed up by amendment. 
" Godly sorrow worketh repentance," that is reforma- 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. lOY 

Hon. And that sorrow is not godly, however pun- 
gent it may be, and however miserable it may make 
the man, which does not produce reformation. Many 
a holy Christian is made more and more holy with 
less of misery on account of sin, just because his 
grief, whether greater or less, leads to amendment, 
than he who, whatever may be his mortification of 
feeling, does not carry it on to a mortification of sin. 
What should we say of a housewife who made her- 
self continually miserable about the disorder and 
uncleanliness of her house, but who took no pains 
to rectify the confusion and to expurgate the filth ? 
It is to be greatly feared that very many professors 
of religion satisfy themself with being made un- 
happy by the knowledge and experience of their sins. 
They are loud in their lamentations, ample in their 
confessions, and seemingly profound in their humilia- 
tions. But there the matter ends. They who heard 
their self-abasing acknowledgments yesterday see 
them no better to-day. They are like some valetu- 
dinarians, whose diseases arise, in great measure, 
from their own indulgence, who are ever complain- 
ing of their ailments, and ever lamenting, as well as 
continuing, their imprudence, but who will never 
exercise that self-denial which is the only way to 
restoration, and who yet imagine it is a sign of 
growing attention to their health, because there is 
an increasing disposition to lament their sickness 
and to confess their imprudence. 

5. A very common error is to mistake a growth of 
sectarianism for an increase of grace. Perhaps there 
is no delusion more common than this. Ecclesias- 
tical polity and sacramental observances, as matters 
of divine revelation, are both of some importance ; 
yet it is perfectly clear, from the testimony of Scrip- 



108 MISTAKES 

ture, that they are of less consequence in the divine 
life, than faith, hope, and love. '' The kingdom of 
God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." — Rom. xiv. 1*7. 
" In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any- 
thing, nor imcircumcision ; but faith which 
WORKETH BY LOVE." — Gal. V. 6. If tlicsc pas- 
sages mean anything, they teach us the entire subordi- 
nation of what is ceremonial to what is spiritual. 
To see a person more interested in, and more zealous 
for, some ritual observance, than the cultivation of 
charity — attaching more importance, both as matter 
of experience and controversy, to baptism and the 
external form of the church, than to the doctrines of 
justification, regeneration, and sanctification, marks 
a state of mind very different from that which is in- 
culcated by the precepts, and manifested in the 
conduct, of the sacred writers. The great object of 
the apostles was to cherish in their converts the 
spirit of faith and the practice of holiness. Yet we 
very often see a different line of conduct, both in 
the teachers and professors of religion in the present 
day, by many of whom an extraordinary zeal is 
manifested for either established or unestablished 
churches, as the case might be ; and for a more 
elaborate or a more simple ceremonial, while little 
concern is felt or expressed to inculcate " The fruits 
of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, long suffer- 
ing, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tempe- 
rance." — Gal. V. 22. 

We not unfrequently see young professors, when 
their first concern about religion is over, taking up 
witTa the ardor of eager novices these secondary 
matters, and becoming zealots for supporting, de- 
fending and propagating them. This is sometimes 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 109 

especially apparent in those who have lately trans- 
ferred themselves from one section of the universal 
church to another. Proselytes, as if to prove the 
sincerity of their conviction, and reconcile themselves 
to their new party, usually, in supporting their novel 
opinions, excel in zeal those by whom these notions 
have been long held. A change of this kind has, in 
some cases, eft'ected a complete transformation of 
character, and they who were before all torpor, are 
now all activity and energy ; not, indeed, for the 
gi'eat fundamental truths on which all Christians 
agree, but for those minor matters on which they 
differ. Churchmen, that as such were dull and 
lethargic, have, on becoming dissenters, been all 
life and energy, not so much for faith, love, and 
holiness, but for nonconformity : while on the other 
hand dissenters, who, while such, were supine and 
inert, on entering the establishment, have become 
the zealous advocates and propagators of perhaps even 
high-church principles. Let not persons of this de- 
scription mistake such sectarianism for advancement 
in the divine life. This holy %dtality has reference 
rather to the principles on which all are agreed, than 
to those minor matters on w^hich they differ. A mighty 
fiiror about nonconformity, or a most impassioned 
zeal for religious establishments, may comport with 
very little vital godliness ; yea, the former may go far 
to enfeeble the latter. Instead therefore of such a 
state of mind indicating progress, it manifests a 
retrogression. The man has become more of a dis- 
senter or churchman, but perhaps less of a spiritual, 
humble, and simple-minded Christian. It is the 
human element in their religion, not the divine, 
that has strengthened ; the shell that has thickened, 
not the kernel that has enlaro:ed. There has been 

10 



110 MISTAKES 

motion, but it is a lateral one from the straight line, 
not a progress in the right direction. It is a going 
down and going back from primary to secondary 
matters. An excrescence has grown upon the tree, 
but the tree itself has been hindered and not helped 
in its advance. 

6. Much the same remark will apply to a growing 
attachment to some particular preacher^ which is not 
always of itself a proof of progress in religion. We 
are allowed our preference even in tfeis matter : for 
though it is the message rather than the messenger 
— the truth rather than the preacher — that is to be 
the ground of our attachment, yet it cannot in the 
nature of things be otherwise than that we should 
prefer one minister to another. He may have been 
the instrument of our conversion, or the means of 
our establishment ; or, independently of these mat- 
ters, he may more clearly explain, and more power- 
fully enforce God's truth : or even without this, his 
natural abilities with equal orthodoxy and piety may 
be more to our taste ; and on all these grounds 
preference, within certain limits, is allowed. But 
nothing in a young convert requires greater care 
and effort to keep down excess, than ministerial 
attachment, lest it should degenerate into exclusive- 
ness and spiritual idolatry. This is a danger into 
which multitudes run. They make this pulpit 
favorite not only the standard of all excellence 
but its monopolist. They think meanly of every 
one else. They can hear, at or any rate relish, no 
other. When he preaches elsewhere they follow 
him : or if they cannot do this, they make up their 
mind not to profit by his substitute. This actually 
grows upon them till he is everything, and all other 
ministers nothing. Now this very attachment is 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. Ill 

by some supposed to be a proof of progress ; espe- 
cially in the case of those who formerly cared 
nothing about this minister, or any other. They 
now feel pleasure in hearing him, but then it is 
confined to him, and this preference, instead of lead- 
ing them to love him for the sake of the truth he 
preaches leads them rather to love the truth for the 
sake of the preacher. If ^vith their preference for 
him, they united a delight in hearing all who preach 
the same truths ; and his preaching had formed in 
them a taste for evangelical doctrines, instead of for 
one man who preached them, this would be a blessed 
result, and one that would prove advance in religion. 
Perhaps there are few evidences more conclusive of 
progi-ess than such a state of mind as is described 
in the following reflections, " At my first setting out 
in the ways of religion, I felt a preference for my 
minister so strong, that I could hear wdth pleasure 
no other. I was disappointed and discontented 
if I saw any one else in the pulpit, and thought 
the sermon scarcely worth listening to. I now 
see it was more an attachment to the preacher 
himself than to his message. True, I was pleased 
with his doctrine, but still more with his manner of 
setting it forth. As my knowledge of divine truth 
increased, and I became more and more in love with 
this, I found my delight more and more drawn off 
from the preacher to his doctrine. Till now, with 
my preference for him above all others still remain- 
ing, I am so much taken up with the truth as it is 
in Jesus, and feel so much more the importance of 
the matter than the manner, that I can hear any one 
with pleasure who, with tolerable ability, explains 
and enforces the glorious gospel of the blessed God. 
It is the man who opens most clearly to my judg- 



112 MIfiTAKES. 

ment the truth of God's word, and enforces it most 
powerfully upon my heart and conscience, and carries 
on my growth in knowledge, peace, and holiness — 
that is the preacher I love most." There is no mis- 
take here. 

^7. Somewhat analogous to this, some mistake a 
growing delight in some particular theory^ or some 
particular parts, aspects, and subjects of the Bible, 
for progress in the divine life. " All Scripture," to 
quote this passage again, " is given by inspiration 
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the 
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." But all Scripture is not 
equally adapted to foster the strength and promote 
the health of the soul. Now it is clear to any one 
who will attentively study the New Testament, that 
the truth by which we are to be sanctified — the 
doctrine which is according to godliness — the " per- 
fection," which is distinguished from first principles 
— is the mediatorial character and work of Christ. 
This seems to be plain fi-om our Lord's words, 
" Verily, verily, I say unto you except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye 
have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will 
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat 
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." — John vi. 
53-55. This is a most momentous passage, and 
deserves the very serious attention of all, and espe- 
cially of young converts. It is of vast consequence, 
in corporeal dietetics, to know what is the most 
nourishing food, and what will sustain the strength 
and increase the stature of the body. Can it be 
less so in the dietetics of the soul ? Here then, by 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 113 

Him who came to give life — by the Physician of the 
soul — we are told upon what food the growing 
Christian must live. In these words our Lord did 
not, could not, mean to be understood literally. By 
his flesh and blood, he meant his body offered up 
in sacrifice, and his blood shed as an atonement for 
sin ; and by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, 
he intended nourishing the divine life by the know- 
ledge, the faith, the contemplation, of his death as 
it is set forth in the Scriptures. The study of every- 
thing that stands connected with the death of Christ, 
whether it be in the types of the ceremonial law, 
the predictions of the prophets, the narratives of 
the Gospels, the doctrines of the epistles, or the 
sublime visions of the Apocalypse — this is the food 
of the soul — the manna from heaven — the bread 
of life. This is " meat indeed^'' and " drink indeed^ 
Whosoever with hungry appetite feeds upon this 
will grow : and whosoever neglects this will become 
lean and weak. Now there is a proneness in some to 
neglect this, and endeavor to support their spiritual 
strength by something else. It is not the study of 
the natural history, or chronology, or historical facts, 
or beautiful poetry, or pathetic narratives, or sublime 
compositions of the Bible, that will best sustain 
our strength, and yet some are thus attempting it. 
They see many beauties in the Bible to which they 
w^ere formerly blind. They are enamored with the 
sublimities, for instance, of the book of Job or Isaiah. 
They admire the wondrous wisdom of the book of 
Proverbs. They luxuriate amidst the pathos of the 
histoiy of Joseph, or the morality of the Sermon 
upon the Mount. Their attachment to those parts 
of revelation is rather gi-owing than declining, and 
in proper measure all this is highly commendable. 

10* 



114 MISTAKES 

Such books as Gilfillan's " Bards of the Bible," and 
Kitto's " Daily Readings," should be read, and can- 
not be read without admiration, and exquisite de- 
light, and valuable information. And many do read 
them with these feelings, and hence they imagine 
they are progressing in religion, although they have 
little relish, perhaps, for the doctrines of the Gospel 
— the mediation of Christ — the salvation into which 
the prophets inquired diligently, and the angels 
desired to look. They do not feed on the flesh and 
blood of the great Sacrifice. 

8. There may be a mistake made, by the mortifi- 
cation of some ONE sin ivhile others are left unsub- 
dued. It is so far an advance if one enemy of our 
soul, from right motives and by right means, be 
destroyed. And in the work of spiritual improve- 
ment it is wise and well, instead of losing our time 
and wasting our energies in mere general and un- 
systematic mortification, to select occasionally some 
one sin to begin with in the way of more direct and 
concentrated attack : and no doubt the crucifixion 
of that corruption — the cutting off of that right 
hand, or the plucking out of that right eye, is a 
gain in sanctification — a step in advance — and a 
means of gaining other victories. . But what I am 
anxious to guard you against is, the supposition 
that because some one evil to which you may be 
more strongly tempted is abandoned ; or some prac- 
tice which may militate against your health, or in- 
terest, or comfort, is given up, you are going on. 
Sin may be discontinued for various reasons. A 
drunkard may give up his inebriety, not because it is 
sinful, but hurtful. Another may discontinue some 
fraudulent practice, not because it is forbidden by 
G-od, but is disgraceful in the estimation of man. 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 115 

A young professor may give up some ensnaring 
worldly amusements, not because he is afraid of their 
influence upon his spiritual welfare, but because 
they make too great inroads upon his purse. It is 
not therefore the abstract abandonment of a sin, but 
the motive which leads to it, which is a proof of the 
work of grace. " How shall I do this great wicked- 
ness, and sin against God V This must lie as the 
motive at the base of all mortification of sin. And 
then moreover the destruction of any one sin must 
be viewed and carried on as a part of the purpose 
and the act for the destruction of all sin. 

I now proceed to enumerate and to correct some 
mistakes of a contrary nature to those just considered. 
I mean such as are committed by those who are 
making progress, and yet are somewhat anxious and 
distressed under supposition that they are not ; and 
even fearing that they are declining. 

The cases are perhaps not numerous of persons 
deeply concerned about salvation, really earnest in 
religion, and yet harassed with the apprehension 
that they are at a stand still, or even going back. 
There is a sincere desire to advance in holiness, and 
to increase in spirituality ; and they are even dili- 
gent in the use of means to accomplish that end. 
In reference to them, I do not hesitate to say that 
their very state of mind is itself an evidence of pro- 
gi-ession. This sohcitude is itself advancement. The 
very desire of improvement, the will to go on, the 
longing after greater attainment, is improvement. 
It is itself an impulse — a forgetting the things that 
are behind, and a reaching forward unto those 
thing's that are before. There cannot be a more 
convincing proof of halting or retrogading than 
complacency in ourselves. While on the other 



116 MISTAKES 

hand, a growing disposition to find fault witli our- 
selves, and humble ourselves, and really improve 
ourselves, is one of the brightest indications of our 
going forward, provided there is all diligence in the 
use of the means of self-improvement. 

Some are fearful that they are not making pro- 
gress because their feelings are not so vividly excited 
in religious matters as they formerly were. They are 
not easily and powerfully wrought upon either in 
the way of joy and sorrow, hope and fear, as they 
once were. They have not those lively and ecstatic 
states of mind which they formerly experienced 
when they began the divine life. 

Here we must just glance at the constitution of 
our nature. Religion exerts its influence over all 
the faculties of the soul : it calls into exercise the 
understanding, engages the determination of the will, 
moves the affections, and quickens the conscience. 
The same differences of natural constitution will 
be observable in some degree in the new or spiritual 
nature as existed in the old or physical one. A per- 
son of great sensibility in ordinary things, will, after 
conversion, be so in spiritual ones ; while they of 
little emotion in the .former will exhibit the same 
phase of mind in the latter. The sensibility or emo- 
tional state of the mind depends very much therefore 
on our physical organization. J^ow it is a very wrong 
criterion of the reality and degree of our religion to 
judge of it only by the exercise of the afl"ections. 
Some persons of excitable natures are easily moved 
to joy and sorrow, hope and fear. The power of 
poetry or eloquence, of sights of distress or raptures, 
over their feelings is irresistible, while at the same 
time their judgments are not proportionately em- 
ployed, their wiPs not in the same measure en- 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 117 

gaged, and their conscience but little moved. Take, 
for instance, the sentimental readers of novels, how 
by fits they are melted to tears, or excited to ecsta- 
sies. Yet how idle and unemployed are all the other 
faculties of the soul. There is no virtue in all this. 
It is mere sympathetic emotion. Now look at the 
philanthropist. He may not be a man of tears, or 
of strong and vivid emotions of any kind, but he is 
a man of principle. His understanding comprehends 
the circumstances of some case of deep distress, 
and he judges it is right to pity and relieve it. His 
heart, though not wrought up to extreme anguish, 
so as to fill his eyes with tears, and his mouth with 
loud lamentations, feels for the miserable object ; his 
will resolutely determines at once to help the sufferer ; 
and his conscience, which would condemn him if he 
did not, approves the determination. You will par- 
ticularly notice what constituted the virtue of the 
good man ; not wholly the emotional excitement, for 
there was very little, but the dictates of the judg- 
ment, the determination of the will, and the action 
which was performed under these conjoint powers. 
So it is in religion, which consists partly of the ex- 
ercise of all the faculties, but chiefly of the judg- 
ment, will, and conscience. The heart is of 
course, engaged, for we must love God and hate sin : 
we must dehght in Christ and fear the wrath to come ; 
but the amount of vivid emotion is of little conse- 
quence, compared with an enlightened judgment, 
showing us clearly what is right and wrong ; a de- 
termined will to avoid the evil and perform the good ; 
and a tender conscience shrinking from the least sin. 
Emotion is, to a certain extent, instinctive, involun- 
tary, and irrepressible. Not so with judgment, will, 
and conscience. It is not, therefore, the amou iit of 



118 MISTAKES 

feeling^ but of willing and doing, and approving or 
condemning, that determines the state of religion. 
There is such a thing I know — and, alas, it is a very 
common one — as losing " first love," and it is marked 
by our Lord with his disapprobation in his address 
to the church at Ephesus ; but many distress them- 
selves on this account who have no need to do so. 
Their ardour perhaps, at first was in some measure 
the excitement of animal feeling, which will soon die 
away of course, though their real practical love may 
not be diminished, but may be growing stronger. 
When a son returns home after a long absence, 
especially if he be a reclaimed prodigal, and meets 
his parents, brothers, and sisters, there is a glow of 
feeling, a joyousness of emotion, which cannot be 
expected to continue always, and which he may never 
be able to recall again, though he may be ever grow- 
ing in real attachment to his friends and his home. 
From all this it will be seen that the emotional 
part of religion may be, and is by many, over-esti- 
mated. The question is not merely what we can 
feel^ but what we can c?o, for Christ ; not how many 
tears we can shed, but how many sins we can mor- 
tify ; not what raptures w^e can experience, but what 
self-denial we can practise ; not what happy frames 
we can enjoy, but what holy duties we can perform ; 
not simply how much w^e can luxuriate at sermon or 
at sacrament, but how much we can exhibit of the 
mind of Jesus in our intercourse with our fellow- 
men ; not only how far above earth we can rise to 
the bliss of heaven, but how much of the love and 
purity of heaven we can bring down to earth — in 
short, not how much of rapt feeling we can indulge, 
but how much of religious principle we can bring to 
bear on our whole conduct. 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 119 

It is evident, therefore, there may be progress 
where there is a fear that there has been declension. 
The vividness of feeling may have subsided, but if 
the firmness of principle has been strengthened, it is 
only like the decadence of the blossom when the fruit 
has set. The joy might not be so great, but it may 
be more intelligent, more solid, and more sober. 
Just as the exuberant delight of the child, when it 
passes off, leaves the pleasure of the youth less noisy, 
but more rational. The frames and feelings may be 
less rapturous, but they may at the same time be 
less idolised, less depended upon, less put in the 
place of Christ. The young Christian is less pleased 
with self, but sees more of the glory of the Saviour : 
his own righteousness appears more imperfect and 
defiled, and is therefore less loved, but the righteous- 
ness of the Saviour comes out before him more beau- 
tiful, glorious, and necessary. 

Distress is sometimes felt in consequence of mis- 
taking a clearer vieio and deeper sense of depravity 
for an actual increase of it. This is by no means 
an uncommon case. The young Christian seems 
sometimes to himself to be growing worse, when in 
fact it is only that he sees more clearly what in fact 
he really is. In the early stages of religion we have 
usually but a slender acquaintance with the e\dl of 
sin or the depravity of the heart. The mind is so 
much taken up with pardon and eternal life, and 
even, indeed, with the transition from death to life, 
that it is but imperfectly acquainted with those 
depths of deceit and wickedness which lie hid in it- 
self. And the young convert is almost surprised to 
hear older and more experienced Christians talk of 
the corruptions of their nature. It is almost one of 
the first things one should suppose they would feel, 



120 MISTAKES 

yet it is one of the last they effectually learn, that 
religion is a constant conflict in man's heart upon 
earth, between sin and holiness. At first they seem 
to feel as if the serpent were killed, but they soon 
find that he was only scotched, for by the warmth of 
some fiery temptation, he is revived and hisses at 
them again, so as to require renewed blows for his 
destruction. Nothing astonishes an inexperienced 
believer more than the discoveries he is continually 
malSng of the evils of his heart. Corruptions which 
he never dreamt to be in him, are brought out by some 
new circumstances into which he is brought. It is 
like turning up the soil, which brings out worms and 
insects that did not appear upon the surface. Or to 
vary the illustration, his increasing knowledge of 
God's holy nature, of the perfect law, and the ex- 
ample of Christ, is like opening the shutters, and 
letting light into a dark room, the filth of which the 
inhabitant did not see till the sunbeams disclosed it 
to him. 

Sometimes the young convert is discouraged, be- 
cause he does not increase as fast as he expected; 
and supposes because he does not accomplish all, 
and as speedily as he looked for, that he does not 
advance at all. The expectations of young Chris- 
tians are sometimes as irrational as the child's who 
sowed his seed in the morning, and went out in the 
evening to see if it was above ground. The recent 
convert sometimes imao-ines that sanctification is 
easy to work, and advance, for a regenerated soul, a 
thing to be accomplished by a succession of strides, 
if not, indeed, by one bound after another. But the, 
remains of old Adam within him soon prove too 
strong to allow this unimpeded course of Christian 
progression. He knew he had diflSculties to sur- 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 121 

mount, but he calculated on getting over them with 
ease : that he had enemies to conflict with, but then 
he hoped to go on by rapid victories from conquer- 
ing to conquer. He is disappointed : and now im- 
agines he makes no way at all. But why should he 
so hastily decide against himself? All growth is 
slow, and that is slowest of all which is to last 
the longest. The mushroom springs up in a night : 
so did Jonah's gourd ; and in a night it perished. 
The oak requires centuries for its coming to per- 
fection. 

Some mistake by supposing they do not advance 
at all because they do not get on so fast as some others, 
"We would by no means encourage neglect, indiffer- 
ence, or contentment with small measures of grace. 
On the contrary, we urge the greatest dihgence. 
We say go on unto perfection. They who are con- 
tented with what grace they suppose they have, give 
fearful evidence that they have none at all. To be 
self-satisfied is to be self-deceived. Still, as in 
nature so in grace, all do not grow with equal 
rapidity, or advance to equal strength and stature. 
It is so with flowers in a garden ; trees in a planta- 
tion; children in a family; boys at school; ships 
at sea ; or travellers upon the land. There is pro- 
gress in all, but in different degrees. Yet of which 
of all these can it be said, they make no advance - 
because they do not advance as fast as the foremost. 
The use we should make of the superior attainments 
of the more eminent of God's servants is neither to 
envy them^ nor to discourage our hearts, but to find 
in them a stimulus and an encouragement to seek 
larger measures of faith and holiness for ourselves. 



11 



122 MISTAKES 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

Reader, this is an unspeakably important chapter 
for you to ponder. You must not pass from it in haste, 
but linger, and muse longer and deeper. You must 
now take up the candle of the Lord, as I have said, and 
go down into the very depths of the soul, to search its 
hidden recesses. Nor should you trust to your own 
inspection and scrutiny. Like David, you should 
earnestly pray to God to search you, and reveal your 
real state to you. — Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24. He 
knew how prone we are to self-love and self-decep- 
tion ; how sin lies hidden in the folds of the heart's 
deceit, and therefore he begged the trial and scru 
tiny of eyes more piercing and less partial than hio 
own. So must you. We are all liable to judge too 
favorably of our own case. Do, do, consider the 
fatal, the dreadful, the eternal consequences of a 
mistake on this subject. Oh, the idea of imagining 
we are going on to heaven, when step by step we 
are advancing to hell. Is this possible ? It is ; 
and the very possibility should awaken our alarm. 
Is it probable ? It is ; and this should increase our 
alarm. Is it certain? It is; and this should raise 
still higher our anxiety. Is it common? It is; 
and this should carry our solicitude to the highest 
pitch. What said Christ? Read with awe and 
trembling. — Matt. vii. 21-23. Read, I say, this 
passage in which our Lord with his own hand rings 
the toscin and sounds alarm through the whole 
church. Ought you not to examine ? Is not there 
need of it? Is it not all but madness to go on 
without it ? Mistake ! What in such a matter as 
salvation ? Mistake ! What in a matter in which 



CONCERNING PROGRESS. 123 

an error will require, as I have often said, an eter- 
nity to understand, and an eternity to deplore it ! 

Are you quite sure this is not your case? 
Take up the subject, then, and put the following 
questions to your soul. 

Am I right, and tolerably sure that I am ? — Truly 
converted to God ? — A real Christian ? 

If I am a true Christian, am I really an advancing 
one, or am I mistaking a declining state for an 
advancing one ? 

Am I mistaking a lengthened term of profession 
for a genuine improvement ? 

Am I putting an increase of knowledge, and of 
ability to talk about religion, in place of an increase 
of holiness ? 

Does it satisfy me to grow in knowledge and 
lamentation of my corruptions without mortifying 
them? 

Am I confounding sectarianism with true piety ? 
Attachment to some preacher with love to the truth ? 
and zeal for some favorite theory with real regard 
for the gospel ? 

Is my mortification of sin confined to some one 
corruption, which interest, ease, or reputation may 
require me to surrender; or is it directed against 
all sin. 

Is my religion a mere excitement of the emotions, 
and my growth only a greater excitability ; or is my 
will more and more determined for God, my con- 
science more tender, and my life more holy ? 

Inquire, I beseech you, into these things. Be 
determined, by God's grace, to know the real state 
of the case, and to be under no mistake. Be this 
your prayer, " God of truth, thou that searchest 
the hearts and triest the reins of the children of 



124 HINDERANCES 

men, thou knowest I would not for ten thousand 
worlds be deceived about my spiritual state. Do 
thou who knowest me altogether make known to 
me what I really am in thy sight. Painful as it 
would be to find out that I have been deceiving 
myself, this were infinitely better than for me to go 
on in error till the mistake is past being rectified. 
I want to know my real state. Even if I am a 
Christian, and yet mistaking declension for progress, 
I wish to know this also. Let my spiritual insight 
be clear, my self-acquaintance be accurate. Suifer 
me on no account to deceive myself, even as re- 
gards my progress or decline." 



CHAPTER V. 

HINDERANCES TO PROGRESS. 

It is indeed a melancholy thing for the growth 
of grace to be stopped ; and to see the spiritual 
child remaining a dwarf. But it need not be so, 
unless the child chooses it. 

I. There is indifference to growth. This has been 
in some measure anticipated where we have said that 
earnest concern and desire are among the means of 
progress. If so, then indifference must be an im- 
pediment to growth. It is not so in nature. A 
child in health will grow, and does grow, without a 
thought or a care about the matter. He may never 
have one idea about it ; may be as indifferent as a 
lamb, or a young dove, a tree, or a flower ; yet his 



TO PROGRESS. 125 

mdiflference will not affect his growth. But it is 
not so with a young Christian. Indifference here is 
fatal to all progress. Look at this. Indifferent ! 
What, about progress to heaven, and a fitness for it ? 
Indifferent ! What, about increasing knowledge of 
eternal truth ? Indifferent ! What, to increase in 
h' Jiness, w^hich is the image of God in the soul of 
man ? Indifferent ! What, about the development 
of that character which is formed by a divine hand, 
of heavenly materials, and for eternal ages ? Young- 
professor, can you endure the thought, does it not 
astound you, alarm you, distress you, to think of 
being hindered by indifference ? Oh, cast it away 
at once, and kindle into solicitude and concern. Be 
indifferent to anything, or everything else, rather 
than to this. 

n. Of course we must not leave out of considera- 
tion, but place distinctly before you, the remaining 
corruption of human nature^ and its imperfect sancti- 
fication : and this must be viewed in connection with 
the temptations of Satan. This view of the case has 
come out incidentally, and may yet come out in other 
parts of the volume ; but, on account of its impor- 
tance, it must have a separate place assigned to it 
here. It is well for the young convert to have a very 
clear and vivid perception of his condition — of what 
he really is, what he has to contend with, and what 
exertion therefore is necessary to overcome the resis- 
tance he meets with in his course. W^hat then is 
the real condition, and what are the true circum- 
stances, of the person whose case I am now meeting ? 
He is supposed to be truly regenerated, but at the 
same time only partially sanctified. Sin is de- 
throned, but not destroyed. His predominant taste 
and disposition are holy, but his principles have not 

11* 



126 HINDERANCES 

yet struck tlieir roots very deep into his soul. His 
purposes are somewhat irresolute, and his inclinations 
to evil sometimes strong, just because, to use a 
Scripture expression, " the flesh lusteth against the 
spirit, and these are contrary the one to the other." 
Satan knows all this, and by methods which we can- 
not understand plies the soul with his various machi- 
nations and subtle temptations. We need not, for 
it is useless, attempt to explain the mystery of 
Satanic influence. It is nowhere laid open to us. 
One thing, however, beyond the fact that he does so 
tempt us, is certain, that he always assails us through 
the medium of our own thoughts, imaginations, and 
feelings. Somehow or other he has the power of 
exciting these. So that our resistance of evil in our- 
selves is properly the resistance of the devil without 
us. No perplexity, therefore, need trouble us about 
meeting the temptations of Satan, for to vanquish 
our own evil hearts is to vanquish him. It is well 
to know, to consider, to ponder, the fact that there 
is still the danger of an evil heart of unbelief, aided 
by the power of Satan, hindering us on our way, 
and attempting to turn us out of it. We are not 
only like Bunyan's pilgrim, when we first become 
anxious, setting out with a burden of guilt upon our 
back ; but when, like him, we have lost that at the 
cross, we have still another burden of imperfections 
and corruptions to carry, w^hich without great labor 
and eflbrt will sadly retard us. It must be under- 
stood well : that though all external circumstances 
of situation, and helps, and advantages, were as 
favorable as they could be, we still have a sad draw- 
back within. We are like a traveller who is on a 
smooth road, has fine weather, is intimately 
acquainted with the way, has agreeable and helpful 



TO PROGRESS. 12/ 

companions, but wlio at the same time is very lame, 
or has a load to carry. His lameness or his load 
will be a great delay to him. His attention must be 
directed to these things. He must cure the one or 
lighten the other, or he will make slow progress. 

HI. Besetting sins are powerful hinderances. " Lay 
aside every weight, and the sin which doth easily 
beset you," said the apostle. In the case of most 
persons, there is some one sin to which, either from 
their situation, constitution, taste, or other circum- 
stances, they are more powerfully tempted than to 
others. Satan knows very well what in. every case 
this is, and skilfully adapts his temptations to it. 
He is an expert angler, and never takes his bait, or 
throws his line, at random. Independently, however, 
of him, the very tendency of the heart is in that 
direction. That one sin, w^hatever it be, while 
indulged, will hold you back : you cannot get on 
till it is mortified. Even its partial indulgence, 
though it may be considerably weakened, will 
hinder you. Study then your situation, circum- 
stances, and constitution. You cannot be so imo- 
rant of your past history, your present situation, 
your constitutional tendencies, your experience, 
your failures, your resolutions, as not to know 
what it is which, in the way of temptation and sin, 
you are most exposed to. You must, you do know, 
in what you have most frequently wounded your 
conscience, and occasioned to yourself shame and 
sorrow. Is it an unsanctified temper ? An impure 
imagination ? A proud heart ? A vain mind ? A 
taste for worldly company ? A proneness to envy 
and jealousy ? A love of money ? A tendency to 
exaggeration in speech ? A fondness for pleasure ? 
A disposition to censoriousness, detraction, and 



128 HINDERANCES 

backbiting ? Study yourselves. Examine your own 
heart. You must find out this matter, and it 
requires no great pains in order to know it. It 
floats upon the surface of the heart, and does not 
He hidden in its depths. There, there, is your 
danger. As long as that sin, be it what it may, is 
indulged, you cannot advance. Other sins are as 
unnecessary garments to the ancient racer : this, like 
a chain round his ankle, or a clog to his feet. 

IV. The mistakes mentioned in the last chapter 
are a very considerable hinderance to progress. These 
should be well studied and minutely examined. On 
an ordinary journey errors of this kind will have 
great influence in keeping back the traveller. He 
who supposes he is advancing when the contrary is 
the case, cannot of course get on. We therefore 
recommend a very close study of that chapter with 
especial reference to the subject of this. 

v. There are some situations in life very un- 
friendly to growth in grace. Plants, if they 
flourish, require adaptation of soil, atmosphere, 
and treatment. So do animals. So do young 
children. So do young Christians. In all these 
cases, however, except where the situation is so 
uncongenial as to be certain death, and certain 
destruction to the subject of care, much may be 
accomplished by extraordinary attention and culture. 
Corn, by great skill, labor, and expense, niay be 
made to grow in unfavorable soils. Animals accus- 
tomed to a warm climate may by very great care be 
kept alive, and even in tolerable health, in colder 
regions. Children do grow in the absence of many 
things conducive to health. So it is with the plants 
of grace, the lambs of Christ's flock, the children of 
God. Religion has to exist sometimes in situations 



TO PROGRESS. 129 

most inauspicious tc its growtli, yea to its very 
existence. A servant girl, for instance, may be 
awakened to a serious concern about the salvation 
of her soul, while engaged in a large family, inces- 
santly occupied, and associated with other servants, 
who are not only destitute of all religion themselves 
but who ridicule and oppose hers ; while the heads 
of the family are also utterly irreligious, so that in 
all that house there is nothing to cherish but every 
thing to wither the blossom of piety in this poor 
girl's soul. Or a young man may be led in earn- 
est to " Remember his Creator in the days of his 
youth," and at the time when this new solicitude is 
awakened in his soul, he is engaged as shopman in 
some laro'e establishment, where he is surrounded 
by a number of scoffing, dissolute, and infidel asso- 
ciates, and the master is as ungodly as his servants. 
Or, a young lady may start in the divine life, in the 
midst of a gay, wordly, fashionable family. Or a 
wife may become seriously concerned about divine 
and eternal realities, whose husband is entirely a 
man of the world, and requires her to be of one 
taste with him, in all his amusements and pursuits. 
Now can we conceive of anything more unfriendly 
to earnest, consistent, advancing religion, than these 
and many other situations which may be easily 
imagined, and yet growth is required even here. 
" Growth !" exclaim some, " why life is scarcely pos- 
sible here. You may as soon expect pine apples to 
grow on the summit of Mont Blanc, or roses and 
myrtles to nourish amidst the Polar ices, as think 
of religion thriving in such situations as these." 
This is to miscalculate its own vital strength, and 
also the mighty power of God. I have known, and 
many more have known it to flourish in all these 



130 HINDERANCES 

circumstances. I remember the case of a lady, who 
within the first month of her marriage with an un- 
godly husband, was brought under concern about 
religion, to which, all that time, she had been a 
total stranger. And while engaged in all the round 
of those festive parties and amusements which are 
customary in fashionable circles on such occasions, 
had to struggle with this new anxiety recently 
awakened in her heart, and subsequently with the 
opposition of her husband, and of her nearest rela- 
tives. Yet, by the grace of God, her piety not 
only lived but flourished. 

Still it shall be conceded that the situations sup- 
posed are, for experience and observation prove it, 
"uncongenial with the growth of grace. It is difficult 
to keep a standing there, much more to advance. 
But it is possible ; and the very possibility is en- 
couraging. Consider how much is at stake — the 
soul — salvation — heaven — eternity. Consider how 
much greater your condemnation will be, if having 
once been awakened, you relapse again into a deadly 
slumber. Be duly aware, then, of the difficulty of 
your situation, and even alarmed at it. Say to your- 
selves, " How can I stand firm ?" If you can alter 
your situation, it may be well to do so : I advise it. 
You should not be self-confident, and say, " I can 
trust myself. My mountain stands strong, I shall 
never be moved. I fear nothing." Then / fear 
for you. Such a spirit is the precursor of a fall. 
" Be not high-minded, but fear :" " Let him that 
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Flee, 
I say, flee if you can ; that is, if your present situa- 
tion be not one of obvious duty, which leaves you no 
choice. Some of the cases I have mentioned answer 
to this description, and do leave you no option. 



TO PROGRESS. 131 

The daughter cannot in many instances quit 
her father's house ; nor can the wife, the home of her 
husband. Where this occurs, let there be the most 
earnest prayer to God for divine grace, and full un- 
wavering faith in the Divine promise. Let such 
'persons lay their case before the Lord, and remind 
him of their peculiar need of his most gracious 
assistance. Let them open the ear of faith, and 
hearken to his voice. " Fear thou not ; for I am with 
thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy God : I will 
strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will 
uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous- 
ness." — Isaiah xli. 10. 

VI. Among the hinderances to progress in reli- 
gion must be mentioned companionship, " He that 
walketh vnth wise men shall be wise," says Solomon, 
" but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." — Pro. 
xiii. 20. We take the tino-e of our character from 
those, and in return give back in brighter hue the 
color of our own to them, with whom we associate. 
We are all the communicants and recipients of un- 
conscious influence ; just as healthy or diseased 
subjects are supposed to keep the atmosphere around 
them salubrious or infectious. As, therefore, w^e 
would preserve our spiritual health and promote our 
increase of strength, let us avoid the society of those 
whose company and conversation are unhiendly to 
piety. The strength of our convictions, the fixed- 
ness of our habits, the clearness and settledness of 
our principles, and the firmness of our resolutions, 
must in a great measure depend upon our asso- 
ciates. David said, " I am a companion of all those 
that fear God and keep his statutes." As to the 
choice of good and suitable companions as a means 
of progress, I have already written in a former 



132 HINDER ANCE8 

chapter : but now I speak of the avoidance of un- 
suitable ones, of such as would be a binderance to it. 
And I would, with all the emphasis it is possible to 
give to written language, conjure the young pro- 
fessor to be most anxiously and tremblingly con- 
cerned about this matter. It may happen that now 
when first brought under concern about salvation, 
you may have companions congenial with your 
former tastes ; and some to whom you were much 
attached, but who are still as regardless of religion 
as you once were. This is indeed a painful and 
perplexing situation, and will expose you to consi- 
derable danger. You will find it difficult either to 
dissolve the ties of friendship, or to maintain them 
without peril to your infantine religion. To with- 
draw from those in whose society you have spent 
so many cheerful hours, will be like cutting off a 
right hand, or plucking out a right eye. Well, and 
are not these the terms of Christian discipleship ? 
Why, in the tiiiies of persecution, the saints were 
often called to surrender husbands or wives, parents 
or children, for Christ's sake ; and can you not give 
up a friend ? Will you risk your religion, and 
jeopardise your soul, at the shrine of friendship ? 
Do you not know that your religious character must 
be distasteful to your former friends, and that their 
pursuits and conversation are now distasteful, and 
actually injurious to you ? Do you not come from 
their society with religious ardor damped, the 
spiritual taste lowered, the devotional spirit im- 
paired, and the conscience offended and wounded 
by your sinking too deeply into the current of their 
conversation ? Is it not felt by you that there is 
one subject, and that the most momentous of all, in 
reference to which you can have no sympathies and 



TO PROGRESS. 133 

no conversation in common ? You must withdraw. 
It is come to this, that you must sacrifice your 
friends or your souls ; which shall it be ? 

We do not say that this should be abruptly, much 
less rudely or sanctimoniously done. There must 
be nothing at all approaching to the " Stand by, I 
am holier than thou." It might be well, first of all, 
by letter or personal intercourse, to endeavor to 
influence your friends to adopt similar views to your 
own ; to use all the gentle and unassuming arts of 
affectionate persuasion, to induce them to go with 
you in the ways of wisdom and the paths of peace. 
If you prevail not, then, after a full and fair trial to 
engage them in the bonds of a sacred fellowship, 
with tenderness, and frankly stating your reasons, 
withdraw from them. It may be a costly sacrifice, 
but it is a necessary one. 

How much more forcibly does this apply to that 
one friend, who, above all others, is dearest to the 
heart, and likely on that account to be more influen- 
tial over the character. "Where this tender eno^asfe- 
ment has been formed before the religious feeling was 
excited in either of the parties, it should be only a 
very hostile attitude against religion in one of them 
that should induce the other to dissolve the bond. 
In such a case there is sometimes little trouble, for 
enmity against God goes far to extinguish love 
towards man, and the pious party is released by the 
other from vows, always solemn, and never to be 
broken without justifiable reasons. But where no 
engagement of this nature has been formed, and the 
young professor is free to choose or to receive, 
surely, surely, a due regard to the happiness of both 
parties, the safety of the soul, the pursuit of salva- 
tion, the commands of Scripture, and the glory of 

12 



134 HINDERANCES 

God, should lead to a determination never to form 
a connexion unfriendly to the interests of personal 
religion. It is impossible to conceive of anything 
more likely to exert a deleterious and destructive 
influence over incipient piety, than a cherished re- 
gard for, and an avowed engagement to, a person 
who is a stranger to vital godliness. Even they 
who have long been in the bands of matrimony and 
who after they have entered them are brought under 
the power of godliness, find it difficult to maintain 
it, in its vigor and consistency, against the hostile 
or even neutral influence of a husband or a wife 
that has no sympathy with them in this most 
momentous of all concerns. How much more un- 
likely is it that they who are in all the solicitudes, 
the emotions, and the agitations of courtship, and 
that in connexion with an individual who has no 
religious sensibilities, can hold on their way and 
wax stronger and stronger. It is by no means 
favorable to the cultivation of true godliness, in its 
earliest stages^ to have the mind occupied by a sub- 
ject so engrossing and so interesting to the hearts 
of the persons concerned as courtship, even where it 
is between persons both of whom are partakers of 
true religion. How much more, then, where this 
does not enter into the character and pursuits of one 
of the parties concerned. 

VII. The inconsistencies^ shortcomings^ or station- 
ary condition of those who already maJce^ and perhaps 
have long made a profession of religion^ are a great 
impediment to the advance of those who are just be- 
ginning the Christian life. There is a proneness on 
all hands, in judging of religion, to look at the con- 
duct of those who profess it, rather than to its own 
inspired records. Infidels do this, and also those 



TO PROGRESS. 135 

who wish to be freed from its obligation, and who 
for that end bring against it the inconsistencies of 
its professors. Something like this operates also on 
the minds of those who are beginning the Christian 
course. Instead of studying their obligations in the 
Word of God, and taking all their ideas from thence, 
and finding there the proper models of character, 
they look around upon those Christians with whom 
they are acquainted, with a kind of tacit idea that if 
they themselves are as holy, and earnest, and spiri- 
tual as these, it is all that can be expected from them. 
Yea, they imagine that they who are so young in piety 
can hardly be supposed to be as holy, spiritual, and 
earnest, as they who have been long in the way. 
And what do they see in these older Christians, in 
whom at one time perhaps, they looked for an almost 
perfect exhibition of spiritual excellence as the natural 
result of long experience and rich advantages ? Ah, 
what indeed ? Oftentimes low attainments, prevail- 
ing worldly-mindedness, unsanctified tempers, and 
general unlovehness of character. Instead of re- 
sembling trees in the meridian of their age, lofty in 
stature, spreading out their branches, rich in foliage, 
and laden with fruit, they see stunted, almost 
branchless, leafless, and fruitless stocks, calling for 
the gardener's interdict, " Cut them down : why 
cumber they the gi'ound ?" Others perhaps are not 
in so bad a condition as this, but still far from what 
our Lord describes as " bearing much fruit, and so 
glorifying God." Here and there they discover 
some one in an eminent degree growing like a cedar 
in Lebanon, or flourishing like the palm-tree. But 
these are the exceptions, rather than the rule. The 
young inquirer, therefore, instead of looking at the 
exceptions, too often turns to the general rule, and 



136 KINDERANCES 

secretly thinks that he can hardly expect to be among 
the rarer instances of godliness, and contents himself 
with possessing the average amount of it. There 
may be no actual, formal, deliberate, making up his 
mind in this way, after general observation : but an 
unconscious and unintentional influence of this kind 
comes over his mind. It was only the day before 
this was written, a friend informed me of a case he 
knew of a young female servant who was brought 
under the power of religion, and wishing to be in 
a situation favorable to the growth of her piety, 
she went into a family professing godliness, where 
she hoped to find everything to foster her early 
impressions. Perhaps, as is commonly the case, 
she expected too much — all but perfection ; but 
she saw so little like true religion in either master 
or mistress, so much worldliness, and such an ab- 
sence of everything to encourage her in her recent 
impressions, that she found herself in almost as 
much danger there as in the place she left. It 
had nearly proved too much for her weak faith, 
and she had well nigh returned again to her former 
state of careless unconcern. However, by God's 
grace, she was preserved from falling, and afterwards 
recovered her standing and progress, though cer- 
tainly not by any help she gained from this worldly- 
minded couple whom she served. 

Against the pernicious influence of example, we 
must earnestly caution the young disciples. They 
must not allow themselves to be rendered slow in 
their pace, because others before them are so ; nor to 
be checked in their speed, either by a false modesty 
which would lead them to conclude it would be pre- 
sumption to pass their seniors ; nor by an indolence 
which would but too easily lead them to be satisfied 



TO PROGRESS. 137 

with keeping a little beliind tliem. No doubt it has 
sometimes happened that Satan has puffed up the 
mind of some young ardent minds, when in all the 
fervor of their first love, with vanity and conceit, 
so that they have become somewhat proud of their 
own ardor, and still more censorious upon the luke- 
warmness of others. There cannot be either a more 
unlovely or a more injurious disposition than for a 
person lately brought under the power of religion 
setting up for a public censor, and dealing out with 
unsparing hand his reflections and reproaches upon 
the characters and conduct of his nelo^hbors. It is 
sufficiently offensive in ordinary life to hear one who 
is little beyond a beardless youth becoming "Sir 
Oracle," and presuming to scan and censure men 
old enough to be his fathers ; but it is still more 
disgusting to see this in reference to religion ; and 
we would most seriously warn all young disciples 
against such a temper, and admonish them to culti- 
vate among other virtues, the charity that " doth not 
behave unseemly.'"^ 



* There is a very affecting and impressive illustration of the in- 
fluence of professors, in the way of giving ac^vice to a young con- 
vert, in the history of Roger Miller, that extraordinary city mis- 
sionary, who was killed by a railway accident at Wolverton, in the 
year 1847 ; a most interesting memorial of whom has been published 
by Mr. Orme, price eighteen-pence. Soon after he became awa- 
kened to a sense of religion, and had entered into church fellow- 
ship, he opened a shop as a barber, and, like the rest of his trade, 
served his customers on the Sabbath. At length he considered that 
this was a violation of the sanctity of the Lord's-day, and he deter- 
mined to close the shop and trust Providence for his support. His 
faith in God, however, at that time was weak, and as his business 
fell off, he was, as might have been expected, reduced to considerable 
straits in his circumstances. He sustained the trial for some months, 
when a fellow-professor and member of the same religious commu- 
nity, persuaded him to be less scrupulous. Unhappily he listened 
to this advice. And now mark the consequence. "In a short time 
after," he says impressively and instructively, " all my real enjoy- 
ment in religion, and all my desire to attend the means of grace, was 
gone." "To what appalling circumstances," says his biographer, 



138 HINDERANCE8 

VIII. There is another hinderance to progress, 
which in some periods of history, and some external 
states of the Church of Christ, has been found 
fatally successful in the case of thousands — I mean 
persecution. 

Persecution has not ceased, and never will, as long 
as society is composed of the righteous and the 
wicked. The Apostle's words will be found to be 
quite true : " All that will live godly in Christ Jesus 
shall suffer persecution." — 2 Tim. iii. 12. The 
essence of persecution lies in subjecting a person to 
injury, pain of body or mind, or some inconvenience, 
on account of his religious opinions or conduct, 
whether this be done by public unjust laws, or by 
private ill-treatment. If a person be made the butt 
of ridicule or scorn by his companions or others for 
his religion, he is persecuted, and is called to endure 
cruel mockings and reproaches. Perhaps there is 
nothino' more hard to bear than this : no test of 
steadfastness more severe. A young man who be- 
comes pious, if in a large establishment, is sure to 
be the object of all kinds of unhallowed mirth and 
sport, and if amidst all he remains firm, inflexible, 
and constant, is as truly a confessor as he who goes 
to prison. It is scarcely possible to conceive of a 
harder trial of constancy than this. Many have 
given way. They could not stand it ; and have 
escaped the pitiless storm of ridicule, by taking 
shelter in apostasy. And where they have not alto- 
gether abandoned their religion, have '^ put the candle 
imder a bushel," and concealed their opinions and 

" does one false step give rise. In his case many dark years of open 
apostasy and extreme irreligion and vice ensued, and innumera- 
ble troubles, both spiritual and temporal, ensued from this single 
act." And all must be traced up to that fatal advice of a profess- 
ing Christian. Oh, professors, take heed what counsel you give, as 
well as what examples you set, to young converts. 



TO PROGRESS. 139 

feelings, so that to others they appeared to have given 
them up. This is as truly denying Christ as open 
apostasy ; and is the very case to which he alludes 
when he says, '* Whosoever shall be ashamed of me 
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful gene- 
ration, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed 
when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his 
holy angels." — Mark viii. 38. Christ will have no 
secret disciples. He that has faith must confess it 
before men. — Rom. x. 9-11. In many cases it may 
be well, where the opposition is too hard to be borne, 
to quit the situation — though it is a noble instance 
of moral heroism to endure it bravely, '' strong in 
the Lord and in the power of his might." 

But there are other cases, in some respects more 
trying than even this, I mean where a young person, 
especially a female, becomes decided in spii'itual 
religion in the midst of an ungodly family ; where 
not one is found to countenance her, and all oppose 
her. She cannot do many things she once did with- 
out scruple or hesitation. Some of their amuse- 
ments offend her conscience, and she declines them. 
She is now considered by her strictness as con- 
demning all the rest, and is reproached as an ac- 
cuser and reprover of the family, not excepting her 
parents. She is charged with being a divider of the 
household, and as having introduced discord and 
strife. It is a most trying situation for the object 
of persecution to endure the anger and meet the 
frowns of father and mother, brothers and sisters ; 
to be considered and reproached as the disturber of 
the peace of a once happy and united family — what 
firmness of principle, what inflexibility of purpose, 
what martyr-like constancy, what a power of di\dne 
grace does this require. 



140 HINDERANCES 

And even where the opposition is not so fierce as 
in either of these cases, it may be so considerable as 
to be a great trial of constancy and a powerful bin- 
derance to progress. There may be the threatened 
withdrawment of patronage, favor, friendship, or 
custom ; and the mild expostulation and the gentle 
entreaty, which are a persecution of love. How 
difficult to put aside all this and go on. Instead 
of this, many are themselves turned aside and go 
back. Their courage fails, their love of ease gains 
the ascendency, and they surrender their convic- 
tions, their hopes, their prospects — in short, their 
religion. 

Let those w^ho are thus tempted consider the con- 
sequences of giving up their profession. Let them 
read with solemn awe the passages of Scripture 
already quoted. For their encouragement let them 
take up their Bibles, and read our Lord's words in 
his sermon on the mount. Matt. v. 10-18. Let 
them also peruse the beautiful language of the 
apostle, 1 Pet. 19-24— iv. 12-19 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11-13 ; 
Heb. xii. 1-13. Let them wrestle with God for his 
grace to assist them, and cast themselves upon his 
promised aid, expecting that he will uphold them. 
It should be accounted by them an honor and a 
glory to suffer for Christ. They should bear all with 
patience, meekness, and forgiveness. A quiet and 
gentle sufferer will in most cases subdue even the 
hard-hearted oppressor. There is a wonderous power 
in consistent and unvarying meekness. Let not 
opposition then hinder you. Let your courage rise* 
with your circumstances : your self-denial keep pace 
with both : and your humility and sense of depen- 
dence upon God deepen with the pressure of opposi- 
tion upon your strength. 



TO PROGRESS. 141 

IX. A taste for icorldhj amiiseynents will in- 
evitably prove, wherever it is indulged, a powerful 
obstacle to growth in grace. Man is unquestion- 
ably made for enjoyment. He has a capacity for 
bliss, an instinctive appetite for gratification, and for 
this God has made ample provision of a healthful 
and lawful kind. " A taste for pleasure " means 
something different from this ; or at any rate, it 
means this directed to Avrong sources, or carried to 
an excess. Now there are some amusements which 
in their very nature are so utterly incompatible with 
true religion, that a liking for them, and a hankering 
after them, and especially an indulgence in them, 
cannot comport with real, earnest, and serious 
piety. The convivial parties of the glutton and the 
drunkard ; the passion for the gambling-table ; the 
pleasures of the race-course, and the performances of 
the theater, are all of this kind. A taste for them 
is utterly uncongenial with a spirit of godliness. 
So is a love for the gay and fashionable entertain- 
ments of the ball-room, and the routs and parties 
of genteel life. These are all unfriendly to religion, 
and are usually renounced by persons intent upon 
the momentous concerns of eternity. A love for 
them dies out from the soul agitated and made 
anxious by the great question, " What shall I do 
to be saved V A¥e would not doom to perdition 
all who are at any time found in this round of 
worldly-pleasure : but we unhesitatingly say, that 
a taste for them is entu'ely opposed to the whole 
genius of Christianity. They are all included in 
that '^ world" which is overcome by faith and the 
new birth. Religion is, though a happy, a very 
serious thing, and can no more live and flourish in 
the heated atmosphere of those parties, than could 



142 HINDERANCES 

a plant brouglit from the fidgid or temperate zone 
under the burning rays of a tropical sun. But in 
this pleasure-loving, pleasure-seeking, and pleasure- 
inventing age, there is a great variety of amuse- 
ments perpetually rising up, v^hich it would be 
impossible to say are sinful, and therefore unlawful. 
Yet the supposition of their lawfulness viewed in 
connexion with their abundance, variety, and con- 
stant repetition, is the very thing that makes them 
dangerous to the spirit of true religion. A taste 
for even lawful worldly amusements, which leads its 
possessor to be fond of them, seeking them, and 
longing for them, shows a mind that is in a very 
doubtful state as to vital piety. It looks as if he 
had not yet entered into the Saviour's words to the 
woman of Samaria, " Whosoever drinketh of this 
water shall thirst again : but whosoever drinketh of 
the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, 
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him 
a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." 
— John iv. 13, 14. Now this i( Airs im^ after worldly 
pleasure of any kind would seem as if the subject 
of it had not yet drank of the living water fi'om the 
well of salvation. This anxiety after even innocent 
worldly gratification seems to indicate that the 
peace which passeth all understanding had not yet 
taken possession of the soul ; and this inquiry, 
" Who will show us any good V hardly comports 
with a mind that had said to God, " Lord, lift thou 
up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou 
hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the 
time that their corn and their wine increased." — 
Psalm iv. 6-7. 

I do not like to be asked, as I sometimes am, 
the question, " whether such and such amusements 



TO PROGRESS. 143 

are compatible with religion ?" That is, I do not 
like it, when it evidently proceeds from a prevailing 
wish to enjoy them, and a desire to get ministerial 
sanction for indulo^ino^ in them. It oiioht not to be 
necessary to prove that many of these are unlawful, 
they should be found unnecessary.^ 

After all, it is freely admitted that religion is not 
hostile to anything which is not hostile to it : that 
many things which are not religion, though not 
opposed to it, may be lawfully enjoyed by the Chris- 
tian : that what he has to do in this matter is not 
to practise total abstinence, but moderation : yet he 
should remember how elastic a term " moderation" 
is, and to be vigilant lest his moderation should 
continually increase its latitude till it has swelled 
into the imperial tyranny of an appetite w^hich 
acknowdedges no authority, and submits to no 
restraint. 



* I am aware that it is sometimes pleaded on behalf of worldly 
amusements by young people, that abstinence from them represents 
piety as clothed with austerity, and as a species of penance, and 
that religious people should go as far as they could in these things 
to disprove the calumny. There is something perhaps in this ; but 
it requires to be very narrowly watched. For, without caution, see 
how far it would carry us. They who indulge in pleasures which no 
religious person could ever engage in may say that all persons must 
have a very melancholy religion who debar themselves of ihei?'' plea- 
sures. So that an excessive repugnance to all amusements, and the 
repugnance may, I concede, be excessive and almost ridiculous, 
should not be so beaten down as to make way for a latitude which 
would be dangerous to personal godliness. A Christian is not to 
partake of the pleasures of the world to prove that his religion does 
not debar him from enjoyment ; but he is to let it be seen by his 
"peace that passeth understanding," and his "joy unspeakable and 
full of glory," that his religion gives far more enjoyment than it 
takes away : that, in fact, it giv-?s him the truest happiness. The 
way to win a worldly person to religion is not to go and partake 
of his amusements, but to prove to him that we are happier with our 
pleasures than he is with his ; that we bask in sunshine while he 
has only a smoking taper ; that we have found the " river of water 
of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the 
Lamb," while he is drinking of the muddy streams which issue from 
the earth. 



144 HINDERANCES 

ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

If in an important mission, journey, or under- 
taking of any kind, you were impeded in reference 
to the object contemplated, you would inquisitively 
and anxiously search for the cause of delay, and 
never rest satisfied till you had found and removed 
it. I am now supposing there is a hinder ance of 
one or more kinds to your progress towards heaven, 
to your increase of faith and holiness. There are 
stones in the way to be gathered out. It is a fear- 
ful idea to think of hinderances to heaven, impedi- 
ments to holiness. If there were anything that 
hindered your health, or prosperity in business, or 
the success of any earthly scheme whatever, how 
earnestly you would ask the question, " What is it ; 
what is it ?" How thankful you would be to the 
friend who pointed it out, and how diligently you 
would set to work to take it out of the way. Well, 
there are impediments in your way to Zion. You 
are hindered. You do not perhaps make progress. 
How is this ? — I say to you what the apostle did to 
the Galatians, " Who did hinder you," or what ? 
Look back through this chapter ; take up every par- 
ticular ; say of each. Is it this, or this, that stops 
my progress ? I ask you, and I implore you to ask 
yourself — 

Is it indifference to the subject ? 

Is it the unsubdued corruption of your nature, 
left to itself, unresisted, unmortified ? 

Is it an easily-besetting sin ? 

Is it one of the mistakes mentioned in the last 
chapter ? 

Is it the peculiarity of your situation being 
unfriendly to a life of piety ? 



TO PROGRESS. 145 

Is it unsuitable companionsliip ? 

Is it the inconsistencies of professing Christians ? 

Is it a taste for worldly amusements. 

Is it persecution ? 

Examine, I beseech you, examine, what it is that 
arrests you in your course, and take it away Again 
I say, " Gather out the stones." 



CHAPTER VL 

MOTIVES TO PROGRESS. 

It might be supposed it would be its own motive. 
Who need to be admonished to proceed in a course 
on which they have entered, which leads to wealth ? 
Do the men who have gone to the gold fields, and 
who have begun to find the precious metal, need to 
be stimulated to go forward ? And yet we do find 
that even in relation to some earthly objects of pur- 
suit, and valuable ones, too, where self-denial, sacri- 
fice, and surrender of present gratification for future 
benefit is required, much persuasion is sometimes 
necessary to keep the person in continuous exertion 
for the attainment of the desired good. If he has lost 
his health by excess in the indulgence of appetite, 
either in the way of eating, drinking, or any other 
lust of the flesh, and by medicine and moderate diet, 
and other restraints, he is beginning to recover, how 
necessary in some cases, is perpetual exhortation, to 
induce him to refrain from excess, and to persevere 
in the denial of his appetite. How earnest we must 
be in setting before him all the motives which ough t 

13 



146 MOTIVES TO 

to liave weight with him in leading him to abstain 
from whatever is injurious to his health. So is it in 
religion. A person just commencing his attention 
to this momentous concern has so many hinderances 
both from within and without to stop his progress, 
that he needs to be urged forward by the voice of 
affectionate entreaty. He must be appealed to by 
all that can be brought to bear upon his judgment, 
heart, and conscience. He is like a man just awa- 
king out of a deep and heavy slumber, about whom 
the drowsiness still hangs, and who is strongly in- 
clined to fall back again upon his pillow and relapse 
into stupor. You must speak loudly to him, and 
even shake him with some degree of violence, and 
compel him to rouse himself and keep himself awake. 
Such is really the condition of a recently awakened 
:sinner. I now therefore present the motives which 
apply to his case for making progress. 

1. And the first I bring forward is the one just 
suggested, the danger of declension, I may even add 
to this ih^proneness to declension. The progress of 
the sinner is like that of a stone rolling down hill, 
which has a continual tendency to go of itself, and 
by every revolution to increase its speed and mo- 
mentum : that of a believer is the progress of a stone 
up hill, which has not only a considerable vis inertice 
to be overcome by great efibrt, but which when this 
effort is suspended tends to roll back again. The 
stone in either case does not, cannot stand still, but 
by the laws of matter and motion must keep going 
backward, unless prevented by actual effort. This 
is impressive, and deserves very serious considera- 
tion. If the young disciple does not advance, he 
wall in all probability retrograde. 

Declension after we have once made a profession, 



PROGRESS. 147 

or have been awakened to solicitude, is really a 
very fearful thing. It is most affecting and alarm- 
ing to see a person once deeply convinced of sin, 
seriously anxious about salvation, professedly ob- 
taining peace through faith in Christ, and com- 
mencing a course of practical godliness, either falling 
again into sin or sinking into predominant worldli- 
ness. Has not this sad spectacle been often wit- 
nessed? Have we not seen this in persons who at 
one time seemed to have such love to Christ that 
it might have been fitly called the love of their 
espousals ? They scarcely wished for any other 
pleasure than that which was enjoyed in communion 
with himself and with his saints ; his name was as 
ointment poured forth; and they loved his very 
image. The exercises of private prayer, the perusal 
of the Holy Scriptures, and the public ordinances of 
the sanctuary were waited for with eager expecta- 
tion. The company of those only who were like- 
minded was selected, and the promotion of the 
cause of God was the enterprise which most in- 
terested them. They had often made solemn reso- 
lutions before the Lord, and had often said, " Thy 
vows^ God, are upon me." And what, and where 
were they afterwards ? Alas, how changed ! All 
their former resolutions were broken, and all their 
habits changed. Their first love subsided into luke- 
warm ness, and at last into absolute coldness and 
indifference. Prayer was restrained; public wor- 
ship neglected ; the Bible never opened ; the com- 
pany of the saints forsaken ; the love of pleasure 
gained the ascendancy; and in some cases, open 
sins that had been forsaken, were again practised. 
The poor backslider himself sometimes has con- 
science enough left to be made miserable by its re- 



148 MOTIVES TO 

proaches and stings, while they who had formerly 
known him in his better days, lament over his 
change, and exclaim in bitterness of heart, "Alas, 
how fallen." The sins of such a pei-son have pecu- 
liar aggravations. They are committed after the 
most solemn vows and engagements ; and against 
clearer light. They are without any provocation on 
the part of God. " What iniquity," said God to 
the Jews, " have your fathers found in me that they 
are gone far from me ?" — Jer. ii. 5. A question 
which is addressed also to every backslider, and 
which ought to cut him to the very soul, and stir 
every spring of sensibility and self-abhorrence. Did 
the backslider find him a hard Master ? Was the 
way of obedience a rugged path, through a barren 
wilderness and a land of drought ? Sins after pro- 
fession are attended with circumstances of peculiar 
and horrid ingratitude. After God has poured out 
upon us his Spirit, taken us by the hand, and led 
us to repentance and the beginning of a religious 
course, then to turn away from him, and refuse any 
longer to be under his guidance, how basely thank- 
less is all this ! Such departures from God are 
expressive of the most extreme and singular /oZ^y as 
well as wickedness. They who commit them, once 
professed to be happy in serving the Lord. They 
had seemed to have found rest in Christ. They 
were no longer running up and down in the world, 
saying, "Who will show us any good," but had 
found happiness in religion. Their judgment was 
convinced; their heart was satisfied; their eon- 
science was quiet ; their whole soul was at peace. 
But now by turning back again to sin or to the 
world, they cast all this away. And they cannot 
now enjoy the pleasures of sin or the world as they 



PROGRESS, 149 

once did. They sometimes feel they have made a 
foolish bargain, and have exchanged liberty for 
drudgery and slavery ; feai-s of conscience for bitter, 
remorse ; joyfulness of heart for sorrow and anguish 
It is a being weary of the government of the Prince 
of peace, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is 
light, and putting their necks under the iron yoke 
of Satan, which crushes them to destruction. 

Such conduct also causes the ways of godliness to 
be spoken ill of. It has the same effect upon many 
as the ill report of the spies who were sent to survey 
the land of Canaan, which discouraged the people, 
caused them to murmur and rebel, and was the occa- 
sion of their perishing in the wilderness. The back- 
slider thus perpetrates a double mischief, his conduct 
is infectious and tends to corrupt those who already 
believe, while it discourages those who do not. It 
says to them, " I have tried the paths of wisdom, 
and do not find her paths as I was told and expected, 
to be paths of pleasantness and peace." This is a 
fearful contradiction of God's word, an awful calumny 
upon religion, and in effect an impious blasphemy 
against God. Such is the sin of declension and 
backsliding, and if it go on to apostasy, then how 
fearful ! Read what the apostle has said on this 
subject. — Heb. vi. 5-9. Let every young disciple 
turn to the passage, read the words, and tremble. 
And no less solemn is the language of the apostle 
Peter, 2 Epistle, ii. 21-22. 

It is not only possible, but probable, that some 
who shall read this work, will be found by it in 
various stages of declension already: some who 
have consciousness enough of their situation, and 
even occasional regret enough to borrow the poet's 
lament — 

13* 



150 MOTIVES TO 

" Where is the blessedness I knew 

When first I saw the Lord ; 
Where is the soul-refreshing view 
Of Jesus and his Word ? 

" What peaceful hours I once enjoyed, 
How sweet their memory still ; 
But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill." 

To such I would say, instantly take alarm and 
tremble at your danger. Let the words of God 
sound like thunder in your ears, " If any man draw 
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." He 
will be a man whom God ceases to regard with 
approbation. His displeasure, instead of his com- 
placency, rests upon him. He marks every footstep 
backward with reproach and disgust. Can you bear 
to think of this ? " Can your heart endure and your 
hands be strong " in such a situation ? Perhaps the 
declension is yet slight, only like a speck of disease, 
like the beginning of consumption, curable if taken 
in time, but fatal if suffered to go on to after-stages. 
But in whatever degree the declension may have 
taken place, it should excite solicitude and lead to 
immediate efforts for recovery. The counsel delivered 
by our Lor(^ to the church at Ephesus should be 
hearkened to with solemnity, and followed without 
delay ; " Eemember from whence thou art fallen, 
and repent and do thy first works." It is not 
enough to Jcnow that you are declining ; nor merely 
to lament it. Complaining alone will not effect a 
cure. We may sigh and go backward to the last 
period of our lives. Our chief solicitude must be 
to recover lost ground. In order to this there must 
be deep contrition and profound humiliation before 
God. In such a state we must begin as we did 
originally, with conviction of sin. The backslider 
must return through the valley of humiliation. There 



PROGRESS. 151 

is no other way back for the wanderer. It will be 
well to inquire diligently after the cause of the 
declension. What was it that led you astray ? 
Here begin in the way of return. The point where 
you left the road, is of course the point at which 
you must return to it. If it were a sin of neglect, 
instantly take up the omitted duty. If it were a 
sin of practice, immediately put it away. It will 
perhaps be somewhat difficult to recover your stand- 
ing ; for as we have said, declension is a down-hill 
progress, but the way of return is all up-hill. You 
will perhaps be ashamed, afraid, and somewhat 
reluctant, to go back. He who ungratefully and 
ungenerously quits a friend, feels some shyness and 
backwardness to return, and say, "I have sinned, 
forgive me ?" So is it with the backslider towards 
God. But mark his love, where, even to backsliding 
Israel, who had so often gone away from him, he 
said, '' Israel, return unto the Lord thy God ; for 
thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you 
words, and turn to the Lord : say unto him, take 
away all iniquity, and receive us gi-aciously : so will 
we render the calves (oflferings) of our lips. I will 
heal their backsliding, I will love them freely : for 
mine anger is turned away from him." — Hosea xiv, 
1, 2, 4. And to convince you how ready God is to 
receive you, let me refer you to that wonderfully 
pathetic passage, where God is represented as a 
loving father, overhearing the confession and lamen- 
tation of his penitent child, and lavishing upon him 
the fondness of his paternal heart. Jer. xxxi. 18-20. 
What heart can stand out against the melting pathos 
of this wonderful passage ? What backslider need 
now fear to return to the Lord ? 

IL It should be most impressively felt that 



162 MOTIVES TO 

progression is commanded and expected hy God. 
We now refer you back to the commands which are 
given in the second chapter ; and would especially 
fix your attention on those which enjoin you to seek 
after perfection. This is a subject which a young 
Christian should thoroughly understand, but which 
few do either understand or consider. Misconcep- 
tions on this subject are fatal to growth. The verb, 
" be perfect," and the noun, *' perfection," are of such 
frequent occurrence in the New Testament, that the 
subject to which they refer ought to engage the 
close and serious attention of every professing 
Christian. There can be no doubt that these terms 
are sometimes employed by the sacred writers in a 
comparative sense, as signifying high degrees — emi- 
nence — completeness of parts. In Hebrews vi. 1, 
perfection signifies the more sublime, enlarged, 
spiritual, and complete views of Christian doctrine, 
as opposed to first principles. In 1 Cor. ii. 6 — 
Phil. iii. 15, "to be perfect," means to be far 
advanced in knowledge. But there are other places 
where it is unquestionably to be understood in its 
unqualified sense, as intending absolute and sinless 
perfection, such are 2 Cor. vii. 1. — "Having there- 
fore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse 
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
perfecting holiness in the fear of God." So again 
Heb. xiii. 21 — "Make you perfect in every good 
w^ork." There can be no doubt that in these pas- 
sages the apostle means entire freedom from sin, an 
absolutely spotless holiness. 

" The apostle does not say," to quote the comment 
of Barnes, " that this perfection has ever been attained, 
or is attainable, in this world ; nor does he say that 
it has not been. He only urges the obligation to 



PROGRESS. 153 

make an effort to be entirely holy ; and tliis obliga- 
tion is not affected by the inquiry whether any one 
has been, or has not been, perfect. It is an obliga- 
tion which results from the nature of the law of God, 
and his unchangeable claims upon the soul. The 
fact that no one has been perfect does not relax the 
claim ; the fact that no one will be perfect in this 
life, does not weaken the obligation : it proves only 
the deep and dreadful depravity of the human heart, 
and should humble us under the stubbornness of 
guilt. The obligation to be perfect is one that is 
eternal and unchangeable. The unceasing and steady 
aim of every Christian should be perfection — per- 
fection in all things — in the love of God, of Christ, 
of man ; perfection of feeling, words, and plans, and 
dealings with man ; perfection in prayers and sub- 
mission to the will of God. No man can be a 
Christian who does not sincerely desire it, and who 
does not constantly aim at it. No man is a friend 
of God who can acquiesce in a state of sin, and who 
is satisfied and contented that he is not as holy as 
God is holy. And any man who has no desire to 
be perfect as God is, and who does not make it his 
daily study and constant aim to be perfect as God 
is perfect, may set it down as demonstratively 
certain that he has no true religion. How can a 
man be a Christian who is willing to acquiesce in a 
state of sin, and who does not desire to be just 
like his Master and Lord ?" 

This is strong and impressive language, and 
requires the very devout, serious, and solemn con- 
sideration of all who are beginning the divine life, 
as showing them what is to be their aim, their 
study, and their endeavor — even to be perfect in 
every good work. Young coijverts see no perfection 



154 MOTIVES TO 

in others ; they hear it said by Christians there is 
no perfection; they feel none in themselves; and 
therefore never dream that it is their duty to seek 
after it ; and thus reconciling themselves to all kinds 
and degrees of imperfections, begin and continue 
with a very low state of religion. I believe that 
infinite mischief is done to the souls of men ; that 
the profession of godliness is much disparaged and 
dishonored : and the lustre of the church dimmed ; 
by a prevalent forgetfulness, and in some quarters 
a denial that it is our duty to go on unto perfec- 
tion. Many are tolerating all kinds and degrees 
of imperfection, under the plea that none are abso- 
lutely perfect. Young disciples have been taught 
as one of their first lessons in theology, that as 
absolute perfection is not attained in this life, it 
is useless to seek after it, and that they may 
be very good Christians, even while not only 
possessing but indulging many known corruptions. 
I would not for the world be misunderstood; I 
would not break the bruised reed, nor quench the 
smoking flax. I would not say an}i^hing to cast a 
stumbling-block in the way of the feeblest lamb in 
all the flock of Christ ; and yet I would be equally 
solicitous to guard them against self-deception. 
What I say then, is this, not that all imperfec- 
tions are evidence of an unconverted state, but 
that the intentional indulgence of them, knowing 
them to be such, under the notion that a great 
amount of imperfection is compatible with a state 
of grace, is so. Not that the possession of perfec- 
tion is essential as an evidence of sincerity, but a 
desire and pursuit after it. 

III. Progress is a bright evidence of sincerity/. 
Growth, as we have already remarked, is the proof 



PROGRESS. 155 

of life. Dead things do not grow. Tliere are few 
minds among professors of religion in which the 
question does not, and none in which it ought not, 
with deep anxiety, sometimes to arise, " Am I, or 
am I not, a child of God ?" 

Now surely the transition from death to life ; the 
change from an unregenerate to a converted state ; 
the ceasing to be an enemy to God by wicked 
works, and becoming his child by filial love and 
obedience, cannot be a change of so trivial, super- 
ficial, and undistinguishable a nature as not to be 
ascertained without great difficulty. It might be 
supposed to be easily recognised where it really 
exists. True it is, that the change is in some 
cases more marked than in others. Where the con- 
version is sudden, and is a turning from actual vice, 
or awful infidelity, or even from flagrant heresy, it 
is more apparent, and more easily determined by 
consciousness, than where it is the gradual for- 
mation of religious character in persons previously 
correct in their general conduct, and brought up 
under religious instruction. It is in these latter 
cases that doubts and fears about sincerity must 
be expected more fr^equently and painfully to occur. 
It is, therefore, in these cases that progress is 
indispensable as an evidence of sincerity. For it 
must be recollected that even in these, growth 
is as essential to life as in the others. Grace 
never finds in nature a subject for which there 
is need of little to be done. There may be very 
beautiful wild flowers blooming, or very good fruits 
growing in the wilderness, yet even these can 
be carried on to much higher beauty, and much 
richer flavor, by the culture of the green-house and 
the hot-house. When the young disciple can say, 



156 MOTIVES TO 

" True, I have not to compare, as the effect of God's 
converting grace, a vhiuous with a vicious life. I 
have not to contrast a present pious belief with a 
former blaspheming infidelity. But I find an in- 
creasing loosening from many of my former tastes. 
The love of worldly-pleasure, which even at my 
commencement- of a religious life was strong in me, 
is evidently weakened, and I find piety more and 
more the source of my happiness. If a growing 
conscientiousness to avoid little sins, and to practise 
^mall duties, be a proof of sincerity, I rejoice to say 
i have this. As regards besetting sins, I have 
reason to believe these are far more mortified than 
chey were, and temptations to them have less power 
over me. My temper, once so irritable and impe- 
tuous, is subdued ; and I find it more easy to govern 
my tongue. My prejudices towards those who difier 
from me in religious opinions have been softened by 
the influence of Christian charity. If these things 
be evidence of sincerity, I am no self-deceiver ; for 
I can certainly perceive in myself these marks of 
progress." 

Here I will present a passage of Holy Scripture, 
which it is of importance every young disciple 
should "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest." 
The apostle Peter thus exhorts, "Wherefore the 
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling 
and election sure." — 2 Peter i. 10. The things 
to be made sure are our "calling and election." 
God's choice of us, manifested by his converting 
us; in other words, our spiritual character and 
spiritual safety. To make this sure, or certain, 
cannot have reference to God, for no act of ours can 
make more certain anything he does. JSTor can it 
refer to the things themselves, for if a man be really 



PROGRESS. 157 

chosen and called of God, nothing that he can do 
can make these more certain. It must therefore 
refer to ourselves. God treats us as rational and 
moral agents, and what may be absolutely certain 
in his mind, from his mere purpose that it shall be 
so, is to be proved to us only by evidence and the 
free exercise of our own powers. The meaning 
therefore of this passage is, that we are to obtain 
evidence that this is our condition. And how are 
we to obtain it ? The celebrated Cudworth, in his 
Sermon on the text, " Hereby do we know that we 
know him if we keep his commandments," has 
the following remarks upon the passage from 
St. Peter, which I am now considering : " He that 
builds all his comfort upon an ungrounded persua- 
sion that God from all eternity hath loved him, and 
absolutely decreed him to life and happiness, and 
seeketh not for God really dwelling in his soul, 
builds his house upon a quicksand, and it shall 
suddenly sink and be swallowed up. We are no- 
where commanded to pry into these secrets, but the 
wholesome counsel and advice given us is this, ' to 
make our calling and election sure^ We have no 
warrant in Scripture to peep into these hidden rolls 
and volumes of eternity, and to make it the first 
thing we do, when we come to Christ, to spell out 
our names in the stars, and to persuade ourselves 
that we are certainly elected to everlasting happi- 
ness, before we see the image of God in righteous- 
ness and true holiness shaped in our hearts. God's 
everlasting decree is too dazzling and bright an 
object for us at first to set our eyes upon. It is 
far easier and safer for us to look upon the rays of 
his goodness and holiness, as they are reflected in 
om* hearts, and there to read the mild and gentle 

14 



158 MOTIVES TO 

characters of God's love to us, in our love to him, 
and our hearty compliance with Heaven's will ; as it 
is safer for us, if we would see the sun, to look 
upon it here below in a pail of water, than to cast 
up our daring eyes to the body of the sun itself, 
which is too radiant and scorching for us. The 
best assurance any one can have of his interest in 
Grod, is doubtless the conformity of his soul to him. 
When our heart is once turned into a conformity 
with the mind of God ; when we feel our will con- 
formed to his wil], we shall then presently perceive 
a spirit of adoption within ourselves, teaching us to 
say Ahha^ Father, We shall not then care for peep- 
ing into those hidden records of eternity, to see 
whether our names are written there in golden cha- 
racters ; no, we shall find a copy of God's thoughts 
concerning us written in our own breasts. There 
we may read the character of his favor towards us ; 
there we may feel an inward sense of his love to us, 
flowing out of our hearty and unfeigned love to him. 
And we shall be more undoubtedly persuaded of it, 
than if any of those winged watchers above, that are 
prying to heaven's secrets, should come and tell us 
chat they saw our names enrolled in those volumes 
of eternity." 

IV. Progress is its own reward. From what in- 
felicity is the advancing Christian protected. He 
has not the unhappiness which in many, if not in 
most cases, declension brings upon its subject. But 
as pain is still a sign of life, though a suffering one^ 
even this is better than the insensibility of death. 
In the case just mentioned, the indi\ddual still retains 
some considerable tenderness of conscience, some 
religious sensibility, without being supposed to be 
hankering after the amusements of the world ; but 



PROGRESS. 159 

I am now speaking of those who are almost entirely 
dead to religious feeling and strongly inclined to 
gaiety, yet in some measure held in check by the 
last lingering remains of religion. They are still 
professors, but find their profession only a clog and 
a hinderance to their pleasures. They see its incon- 
sistency with their tastes and occasional enjoyments, 
and find it as a drop of bitter in their cup of gratifi- 
cation. Sometimes they wish they had never made 
a profession of religion. They are morose and ill- 
temj)ered with themselves for ever thinking of being 
Christians, and till they are led to abandon it alto- 
gether, which at leng-th they are brought to do, they 
are checked by it, much to their annoyance, in their 
course. This is a Avretched state of mind, it spoils 
its possessor both for the world and for religion. 

But these are only the negative side of the 
pleasure of growth : we turn therefore to the positive. 
And here we would remark, that progress in any- 
thing on which we have set our hearts, is always 
agreeable : and this applies especially to religion. 
Viewed in its true nature, it unites the highest 
dignity with the purest pleasure. Her ways are 
ways, not only of pleasure and paths of peace, but 
of honor and renown. Can anything be loftier, 
nobler, sublimer, than a growing conformity to 
the imao*e of God ? To see a strono^er and a 
Btron2rer resemblance to God in our soul ? To 
behold the moral attributes of the Divine nature 
fixed with a deeper and a deeper coloring on the 
character : what to this is the pleasure of the artist 
in seeing the correct likeness of some great monarch, 
or some wonderful genius, growing under his hand 
upon the canvas? How exalted is the pleasure of 
religion, it is the bliss of angels, the happiness of 



160 MOTIVES TO 

spirits made perfect, yea, tlie joy of God's own heart. 
It is enjoyed under the smile of conscience, and 
conscience is undoubtedly the great repository and 
magazine of all those pleasures that can afford any 
solid refreshment to the soul. When this is calm, 
serene, and smiling, then the man perfectly enjoys all 
things, and what is more, himself, for that he must do 
before he can enjoy anything else. It is a pleasure 
that never satiates nor wearies. Can the lover of 
wordly pleasure say this ? With him how short is 
the interval between a pleasure and a burden. 

But we may descend to a few details. How 
delightful is it to grow in knowledge. With what 
a passion for this are some minds possessed. And 
if such be the value of secular knowledge, how 
much greater the worth of that which is divine. Can 
anything be more delightful than to be ever finding 
out some new meanings, some fresh beauties in the 
Word of God ? For the spiritual astronomer to dis- 
cover some new star in the firmament of inspiration ; 
or for the spiritual botanist to light on some new 
flower in the fields of revelation ? 

But take also the trio of graces set forth by the 
apostle — FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY *. aiid here again 
we say, to grow in each and all of these is to ad- 
vance in happiness. Faith is the first source of 
all true joy to the Christian. " In whom believing," 
says the apostle, " we rejoice with joy unspeakable 
and full of glory." Faith looks abroad upon the 
whole field of revelation, in all of whose facts, doc- 
trines, precepts, invitations, and promises, it finds so 
many separate objects of delight. But it con- 
centrates its attention on Christ and heaven. It 
looks v/ith wonder, gratitude, and love, on the cross, 
and then passes on with similar feelings to the 



PROGRESS. 161 

crown of 2:lory. To grow in faith is therefore to 
grow in bliss, and to put up the prayer, "Lord, 
increase our faith," is only in other words to say, 
" Lord, increase our happiness." Here we see the 
reason why so many professing Christians go mourn- 
ing all their days — their faith is so weak : and it is 
of momentous consequence for every young Christian 
at his very outset in the divine life to understand 
that faith is the branch, of which joy is the blossom, 
and holiness the fi'uit. Much the same strain of 
remark may be made in reference to hope. It is 
easy to see that all hope must be pleasant from its 
very nature. This is the case with even worldly 
expectations. Poets have sung " The Pleasures of 
Hope," and experience has justified and echoed the 
strain. The apostle in describing the Christian 
state of mind in reference to this object, speaks of it 
as " Rejoicing in hope." — Rom. xii. 12. Which is 
but a repetition of what he had said before, " And 
rejoice in hope of the glory of God." — v. 2. 

Charity, or love, is another of the component 
parts of religion mentioned by the apostle, to 
advance in which is to advance in happiness. God 
IS LOVE, and He is also the blessed God ; and 
He is the blessed God, because He is love. It 
is impossible it should be otherwise. All the male- 
volent feelings are productive of misery to the sub- 
ject of them. For this reason, Satan, whose nature 
is unmixed malignity, must be the subject of un- 
mixed misery. No happiness can dwell in that 
bosom from which all benevolence is expelled ; while 
no misery can be found in that breast from which 
all malevolence is cast out. Perfect love casteth 
out, not only fear, but wretchedness. Let any 
one read the description of love in the epistle to 

14* 



162 MOTIVES TO 

the Corintliians, and say if the grace there described 
must not contain the very elements of bUss. And 
is not growth in hohness equally delightful ? Holi- 
ness is our spiritual health, as sin is our disease. 
How beautiful and how well worthy our attention 
and adoption for ourselves was the prayer of the 
apostle for Gains : " Beloved, I wish above all things 
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as 
thy soul prospereth." — 3 John, 2. Health, and 
especially growing health, is one of the most de- 
lightful sensations we can experience. To feel the 
tide of energy flow back to its forsaken channel, and 
the depressed frame become, amidst the beauties of 
nature and the breezes of heaven, more and more 
buoyant, the step more elastic, the appetite more 
keen, and the power of exertion more vigorous. 
This is to experience in some cases almost a type of 
the resurrection. But even this does not equal the 
joy of growing in grace, of returning and increasing 
spiritual health. 

V. It adds to the credit and redounds to the honor 
of religion generally. It is given out to the world, and 
the world knows it, that increase is one part of the 
Christian's duty and profession. Our phraseology 
and the language of Scripture are well known to 
those who are not pious, and who make no preten- 
sions to be so. They hear us preach, and pray, and 
talk, about growth in grace ; about our light shining 
more and more unto the perfect day ; about our run- 
ning the Christian race ; and other matters of a like 
kind; they very naturally take us at our word, and 
knowing that all these figures of speech import pro- 
gress, they look for it, and expect to see it, and are 
disappointed if they do not see it : and when they 
observe those inconsistencies, which prove that we 



PROGRESS. 163 

are either not going forward, but ever going back, 
they taunt us with the sarcasm, " Where is your 
advancement ?" " Is this your groAvth ?" " Is it 
thus you improve ?" In all other matters, or most 
others, they do see it in this world's affairs, and 
ought to see it in religion. It adds to the credit of 
any system of medical practice, or of any individual 
practitioner, when under their treatment the health 
of the patient is restored : so also it redounds to 
the honor of a school-master or a teacher of any 
kind when his pupils make great and rapid advance 
in what they are taught. While on the contrary, it 
discredits either or both of these, when there is no 
improvement. And must it not be the same with 
religion? Yet is there no occasion given by the 
conduct of many for some such reflections on the 
part of worldly people as these : " Every system 
which professes to lead onward those who are under 
it, proves its excellence for this purpose by its 
results. And in most we do see a manifest advance 
in those who place themselves under it. We see 
boys growing in knowledge at school ; apprentices 
advancing in acquaintance with their business ; and 
young tradesmen becoming more and more clever 
in secular affairs. It oiight^ of course, to be so in 
religion. The people who profess it have the Bible 
in' their own hands ; they go to church or chapel 
every Sunday with great regularity ; they take the 
sacrament ; and in many other things make great 
ado about their religion. Now with all these means, 
opportunities, and advantages, for personal improve- 
ment and spiritual culture, what manner of persons 
ought they to be. These people tell us that it is one 
of their principles to grow in grace. What evident, 
conspicuous improvement ought therefore to be 



164 MOTIVES TO 

seen in them ? And yet really religion seems to b(^ 
almost the only thing in which men do not make 
progress, if we may judge by their conduct. What 
increase of knowledge may take place in their minds 
we cannot tell, nor how often they pray in their 
families or in their closets, but forming our opinions 
by their outward conduct and visible character, the 
light of holiness does not shine brighter and brighter 
before men. We have known some of them many 
years, and have watched them closely, though not 
unfairly, much less malignantly, but we must con- 
fess we see very little, if any improvement in them. 
Nay, in some things, they have even gone back, and 
are worse than they were when they first made a 
profession of religion." 

Dreadful reproach ! Alas, alas, how jztst in appli- 
cation to some, as well as dreadful ! Let it be 
the deep solicitude of every one who has the least 
regard for the honor and credit of the gospel 
to roll this reproach away, by presenting a cha- 
racter in which all the beauties of holiness shall 
be continually coming out in bolder and more 
striking relief. How would it raise not only the 
gospel, but the church of Christ, in public estima- 
tion, if men looked up to it as a school where the 
pupils were ever studying how to advance in all that 
can make them acceptable to God, and useful to 
man. What reverence would it secure for the 
minister of the gospel, and what respect for his 
ministrations, if by him and by others, it were seen 
that all who profess to have been converted by his 
preaching, were beheld engaged in an arduous 
struggle against all that is evil, and continually 
making attainments in all that is good. 

VI. And is it not a powerful motive to grew in 



PROGRESS. 165 

gi'ace — to consider that our present attainments in 
true religion, have a connection with, and will have an 
influence upon, our heavenly and eternal state. There 
is a much closer relation between our present selves 
in this world, and our future selves in the next, than 
most persons are aware of. " What a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap;" both in quality and 
quantity. It is not possible to set out in the 
Christian profession with a more instructive or 
impressive idea than this — life is the seed time for 
eternity. It is a common way to think of heaven 
and hell, as if they were two states where all are 
alike happy in the one, or miserable in the other, 
whatever may have been their attainments in holi- 
ness, or their deeds of wickedness. That all the 
righteous will be in heaven, and that all will be 
perfectly happy there, is quite true. As regards 
the general sources of heavenly felicity, these will 
be open alike to all ; but this does not suppose that 
in many particulars, there will not be an endless va- 
riety. We know too little of the future state to 
specify these matters ; w^e walk by faith. " It doth 
not yet appear what we shall be." There are, no 
doubt, innumerable sources of delight, and varieties 
of employment, of which we can now form no more 
conception than we can of the exercises and plea- 
sures of a sixth sense. There may, and in all proba- 
bility will be social gradations of rank ; diversities of 
post, place, and service ; and higher and lower degrees 
of honorable distinction. For these a proportionate 
and diversified fitness may be required. One man 
may be more qualified for some high place and hon- 
orable service in the heavenly world than another ; 
and that which constitutes the qualification for this 
higher place, may be, not so much great intellectual 



166 MOTIVES TO 

powers in our earthly state, but more eminent piety. 
It is not the man of large yet unsanctified under- 
standing, that is qualified for heaven, but the man of 
sanctified heart. It is moral and spiritual excellence 
that is the meetness for the inheritance of the saints 
in light. And whatever may be the measure of his 
intellectual capacity, he is the most meet for it, who 
is most holy. If this be true, many an eminently 
holy peasant or artizan, will be higher in glory than 
the less holy philosopher or scholar ; and many a 
youthful Christian cut off" in the morning of his 
days, but carried away in the full blossom of dis- 
tinguished piety, be found more qualified to serve 
God in some high place above, than the aged pro- 
fessor of low and small degrees of personal godliness. 
Is it to be conceived God will deal out as much 
commendation upon even an eminent Christian, as 
upon a martyr or an apostle ? Or, to take a more 
ordinary case, upon the very feeble and too worldly- 
minded professor, who may be after all a sincere 
Christian, as upon the spiritually-minded, heavenly, 
self-denying, and consistent one ? 

But the sources of our heavenly bliss will not be 
all from without, but also from within. Even on 
earth, " a good man is satisfied from himself." He 
carries, in his holy dispositions, the springs of his 
own felicity about with him. And so will it be in 
heaven. It is not only where ^ and with whom^ we shall 
be, but what we shall be, that will make us happy. 
And eminent piety here will, in all likelihood, pre- 
pare us for a larger capacity of holiness and hap- 
piness there. The holiness and happiness of the 
least saint in heaven wall be as perfect as that of 
the highest archangel, or the chief of the apostles : 
but the capacity for this perfection may, and must be, 



PROGRESS. 167 

immeasurably larger in the one case than the other ? 
A tea-cup may be as full to overflowing as a cis- 
tern, yet how much greater is the fulness in the one 
case than in the other ? Here then is the connection 
not only of a state of grace, but of the actings of 
'^race with a state of glory. It is not only that one 
leads to the other ; not only that one prepares for 
the other ; but that one is proportionate to the other. 
It is probable that there is not one holy act, or 
motive, or desire, or volition of our whole lives, 
that has not some bearing upon our eternal charac- 
ter and happiness. God deals wdth us as regards 
another world, not only according to our state ^ 
whether we are righteous or wicked, but according 
to our actings in that state. 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

Is your heart susceptible of the power of a motive 
to anything ? Is there aught below or above the 
skies that can move you ? Do you really know what a 
motive means ? K so, surely, surely, you must feel 
the force of these I have now presented. Must not 
the stone of an unrenewed heart remain in your soul 
unchanged to flesh, if you are insensible to the power 
and attractions of these inducements ? If these things 
fail to impress you and impel you, you would remain 
stationary and indifferent beneath a voice or a vision 
from heaven, or a messenger from the burning pit. 
If these things do not stimulate you, I should despair 
of the power of an angel's harp or a demon's groan. 
Are you on reading these pages at all excited to de- 
sire to advance ? Say, does the fire kindle-, does the 
glow diffuse throughout your soul at the idea of 



168 ENCOURAGEMENTS 

what is here presented ? If not, let me try again, 
not by new motives, but by recalling those which are 
hoi^e enumerated. 

Does not the dread of declension, backsliding, 
apostasy, terrify you ? 

Shall not the command of God impel you ? 

Will not the hope of gaining a sweet and blessed 
evidence of sincerity, lead you to seek after progress ? 

Does not the experience you have already had, 
though it may be in a small degree, of the reward 
which advancement yields, induce you to go forward? 

And then what shall be said of the fact that our 
degrees of grace will regulate our degrees of glory ? 
Has this no motive power for your soul ? What, so 
dull, so earthly, so insensible to the felicities, honors, 
and distinctions of heaven, as to feel little holy am- 
bition to have some high place there ? 



CHAPTER Vn. 

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROGRESS. 

There is, perhaps, no greater hinderance on the 
part of some than a desponding fear of ever getting 
forward in the divine life. They see so much in 
themselves that is imperfect — such ignorance, such 
corruption, such lukewarmness ; so much in their 
situation and circumstances that is opposed to their 
advancement; so much of stagnancy or declension 
in others, that seems to render it unlikely that they 
shall succeed better than their friends and acquaint- 



TO PROGRESS. 169 

ances ; so miicli that renders it unnecessary, as they 
suppose, for them ever to wish for it; that they 
give it up in hopeless depression. " Ah," they say, 
" it is indeed a desirable thing to grow in grace. 
Happy are they who can realize so covetable a con- 
dition of soul. I often long for it, but it is with 
the wishes of one who sees the object of his desire 
immeasurably above his reach. I sometimes sigh 
amidst my low attainments in knowledge, faith, joy, 
and holiness, and pant for better things ; but I end 
as I began, in desponding lamentations, I seem for- 
bidden to hope for improvement." Forbidden ! 
By whom ? Certainly not by God. Discouraged ! 
Why ? Let your despondency yield^ to the follow- 
ing considerations. 

To those who are really anxious about this 
matter, the Scripture is full of encouragement. 
How confident is the langniage of Job amidst all 
his sorrows. "The righteous shall hold on his 
way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax 
stronger and stronger." — Job x^di. 9. Here is not 
only continuance but progress. " Clean hands " 
are designed to denote a holy life. Among the 
ancients they were regarded as indicative of purity of 
heart. Porphyry remarks that in the heathen " mys- 
teries," those who were initiated were accustomed 
to wash their hands with honey instead of water, as 
a pledge that they would preserve themselves from 
every impure and unholy thing. So that the language 
of Job is an assurance that a holy man should be- 
come still more holy. His very practice of righteous- 
ness tends to establish him in his way, to confirm 
his principles, and make that easy by habit which 
is enjoined as duty. Piety, like everything else, 
gtrengthens by exercise. 

15 



1*70 ENCOURAGEMENTS 

How beautiful is the language of tlie Psalmist, 
" The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree ; he 
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be 
planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the 
courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit 
in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing."r — 
Psalm xcii. 12-14. The palm is indigenous to tro- 
pical and other warm climates. It grows to a con- 
siderable height and size, and presents a beautiful 
appearance. Its fruits, which are called dates, are 
much valued and are eaten both fresh and preserved, 
and are also pressed for syrup and wine. But it is 
not for its fruit alone that the palm is so valuable. 
From the boughs, which are yearly lopped ofi" from 
the lower parts of the stem, are made baskets, bird 
cages, ropes, and sacks ; from the leaves mattresses, 
sandals, &c. It is an evergreen, and lives to an ex- 
treme old age : the wood is durable and much used. 
How striking an emblem of a good man. He shall 
flourish like tlie]^alm tree. The cedar was considered 
by the Hebrews as the monarch of the vegetable 
world, on account of its magnitude, majesty, the 
number and extent of its boughs, and the durability 
of its wood, which was so remarkable that some 
supposed it to be incorruptible. Moreover every 
thing about the oriental cedar has a strong balsamic 
odor, and hence the whole forest is so perfumed 
with fragrance that a walk through it is delightful. 
Mount Lebanon was in ancient times covered with 
forests of cedars, of which however there are now 
only few remains. Again we say to the Christian, 
Behold your emblem. " He shall grow like a cedar 
in Lebanon." 

Similar to this representation is the extraordinarily 
picturesque language which we find in the book of 



TO PROGRESS. l7l 

Hosea : " I will be as the dew unto Israel ; he shall 
grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be 
as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They 
that dwell under his shadow shall return ; they shall 
revive as the corn, and grow as the \dne : the scent 
thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." — Hos. 
xiv. 5-7. These verses contain gracious promises of 
God's favor and blessings upon Israel's conversion. 
In the fifth verse it is described by that refresh- 
ment which copious dews give to the grass in sum- 
mer. If we consider the nature of the climate and 
the necessity of dews in so hot a country, not only 
to refresh but likewise to preserve life ; if we con- 
sider also the beauty of the oriental lilies ; the fra- 
grance of the cedars which grow upon Lebanon ; the 
beauteous appearance which the surrounding olive 
trees aiford; the exhilarating coolness caused by 
the shade of such trees ; and the aromatic smell 
exhaled by the cedars ; if we add to this the reviving 
of the corn with all the verdure of spring ; and the 
blushing grapes pendant from the vine — we shall 
then partly understand the force of the metaphors 
here employed by the prophet : but their full energy 
no one can conceive till he feels both the want and 
enjoys the advantage of the particulars referred to 
in that climate where the prophet wrote. " What a 
glorious prophecy 1 How sublime, how energetic, 
how just! and this description is not for Israel 
merely after the flesh, but for the Israel of God. It 
may be there is a national reference, but we have 
lot and portion in the matter. God sets his love 
upon us ; pours down his grace upon us ; and fulfils 
all this to those who have faith to believe in the 
promise of his Spiiit. It is not merely the poetic 



1*72 ENCOURAGEMENTS 

beauty of this passage tliat we hold up to notice, 
though this is surpassingly great, and is one of 
those gems of composition which so profusely stud 
the Bible, and commend it to taste as well as to 
piety, but it is the promises of grace and growth 
which it contains for the encom-agement and con- 
solation of all God's people to the end of time. 

How full of encouragement is also the language 
of the prophet Isaiah xl. 31. — " They that wait upon 
the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount 
up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be 
weary ; and they shall walk and not faint." This 
beautiful passage refers primarily, though not exclu- 
sively, to the captive Jews in Babylon, and encou- 
raged the pious among them to exercise confidence 
in God's ability and willingness to accomplish his 
promises, and to wait with patience for his gracious 
appearance on their behalf. But it contains a 
general promise of continued supplies of grace and 
strength to all who really desire to serve the Lord 
with integrity and simplicity. The image of the 
eagle is a very fine one, and this is not the only 
place where it is employed. The prophet alludes 
to the strength of pinion and of vision possessed by 
this noble bird, whereby it ascends to a lofty height, 
untired and undazzled, soaring even above the fogs 
and mists of the lower regions of the air, mounting 
above the very clouds, undeterred by the lightning, 
and floating in the pure azure above. Thus shall 
all who wait upon the Lord rise higher and higher, 
upon the mighty pinions of strong devotion and 
with the unblinking eye of faith, into the regions 
of heavenly-mindedness ; and shall approach nearer 
and nearer to God, the sun of our spiritual day. 

Then the other expressions, if less figurative, are 



TO PROGRESS. iTS 

not less encouraging — '''They shall rurU'^ in the hea- 
venly race, for the crown of immortal glory, — " and 
not he wearyT Their strength, instead of being 
exhausted, shall, contrary to what occurs in bodily 
effort, be increased by exertion. No length nor 
greatness of labor shall be too much for them. 
God shall pour into their souls fresh energy for 
every fresh effort. They shall thus be enabled to 
press along the mark towards the prize of their high 
calling in Christ Jesus. " They shall walk and not 
faint r Their wayfare may be arduous ; the road 
may be long and rugged ; often up steep ascents, 
and down into deep and rocky defiles, where every 
step is a labor, but they shall not lose heart or hope ; 
they shall not swoon, nor halt, nor turn back, but go 
forwards, sustained by a power greater than their 
own. 

But perhaps a plain didactic and unpoetic quota- 
tion from the jN"ew Testament, will, after all, have 
more weight ydih some minds than this profusion of 
gorgeous oriental imagery. What then can be more 
consolatory than the apostle's words to the Philip- 
pian church, " Being confident of this very thing, 
that he which hath begun a good work in you will 
perform it until the day of Christ." — Phil. i. 6. He 
will have respect to and delight in the work of his 
hands. He is honored and glorified by the per- 
severance of his people in faith and holiness, and 
will give all the supplies of grace necessary for the 
work. He loves to see his children grow in all 
that is excellent, even as does a wise and good 
earthly parent, and far more readily, will cont ibute 
all that is necessary for this purpose. 

n. Dwell upon the love and tenderness of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, Let me direct your attention first of 

15* 



174 ENCOURAGEMENTS ^ 

all to that wonderfully beautiful and tender represent 
tation where it is said, " He shall feed his flock like 
a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with his arm 
and shall carry them in his bosom." — Isaiah xl. 
1 1 . Now you will notice who are here represented as 
the objects of his care, " the lambs ;" which means 
not only those of tender age, but of recent standing 
in religion. They who are young in Christian expe- 
rience ; and also they whose spirits are withal natu- 
rally timid, whose strength is feeble, and whose 
danger is great. You, you, recently brought to Christ 
by repentance and faith, you are the objects of Christ's 
special attention, care, and solicitude. You are they 
whom he takes up in the arms of his power, and lays 
on the bosom of his love. He knows your weak- 
ness, your timidity, your dangers. He directs to- 
wards you his tenderest sympathy, and will exert for 
you his greatest vigilance, and his mightiest power. 
This expression however not only conveys the idea 
of great care of the weak, but the exercise of that 
care with a view to their preservation and growth ; it 
means not only that he cordially receives them, 
will pro\dde for their safety, consult their comfort, 
and will accommodate his conduct to their wants, 
but will also nourish them through their infant ex- 
istence, and rear them up to maturity and strength. 
You should dwell upon the exquisite tenderness of 
the passage — but not only upon this, but upon its in- 
timation that he will assist you in your growth. The 
Good Shepherd does not wish or intend that his 
lambs should be always lambs ; his aim is that they 
should be full-grown sheep, and he will leave nothing 
undone that this might be accomplished ; and it is 
for this reason as well as from pity and kindness 
that he takes such care of them. So it is with our 
Lord Jesus in reference to the young convert. Let 



TO PROGRESS. 1*75 

every lamb of the flock of Christ therefore go to him 
by faith and prayer, and say, " Blessed Jesus, I 
come to thee a poor, weak, and trembling creature, 
doubtful of my own continuance, and alarmed at my 
numerous difiiculties and enemies. I am but a lamb, 
and often fear I shall never be an5^hing better, but 
perish as I am. But was it not in regard to such 
weakness that thou hast been pleased to utter these 
gracious and tender words ? I believe what thou 
hast spoken, and will venture my soul upon it. I 
flee to thee as the helpless lamb to its shepherd when 
hungry to feed it, when pursued by wild beasts that 
he may defend it. Lord take me in the arms of thy 
power and lay me on the bosom of thy love, though 
I am so poor and inconsiderable a creature. I will 
hope in thy pastoral power and love, that I shall not 
• only continue but grow, and that thou wilt one day 
rejoice in me as one of the flock which thou hast 
purchased with thy own blood." 

III. But perhaps you may find some encourage- 
ment, even in your own experience^ without looking 
to others. You are sometimes disheartened and 
cast down. You make little or no progress in reli- 
gion. You are no wiser, holier, or happier than you 
were. And you fear you never shall be. You begin 
to be heartless and desponding. Deeply sensible of 
your deficiencies, you fear they will never be sup- 
plied : you feel your remaining corruptions, and have 
faint hopes of subduing them. You see heights 
above your head, which you doubt you shall never 
reach. In the race you are no nearer the goal, and 
in the conflict gain few advantages over your foes. 
To be as you are is your utmost hope, and not to go 
back your strongest eff"ort. For you, progress is out 
of the question. Again I ask. Why ? Only because 
you think so. I have referred you to the promises 



176 ENCOURAGEMENTS 

of God — to the grace and intercession of Ctirist — to 
the examples of others ; but now let me refer you to 
your own history and experience. I am supposing 
that you have experienced the converting grace of 
God ; that you have really and in earnest com- 
meufced the great work of salvation ; that, in short, 
you are not what you were. Old things have passed 
away, and all things have become new. And if this 
he the case, is it for ]/ou to doubt whether you can 
advance ? Is continuance to be despaired of by him 
who has been enabled to begin ; or advancement by 
him who has been enabled to continue ? Have you 
by grace taken the mighty step, stride, bound; for it 
is all this, from an unconverted to a converted state, 
and do you doubt whether you shall go on step by 
step afterwards ? Have you pressed through the 
straight gate, and shall you not be able to press for- 
ward, also, in the narrow path? Is progressive 
sanctification more difficult, either to you or to God 
than regeneration ? Oh, think of all the difficulties 
that stood in the way when you first entered the 
road to glory. Recollect what you had to encounter 
from within and without. Have you forgotten the 
trembling apprehensions with which when the deci- 
sion was to be made for Christ, salvation, and 
eternity, you doubted if it ever would he made ? 
The anguish with which, on a survey of all you had 
to encounter, you exclaimed, " Who is sufficient for 
these things V Yet it was made. God's grace luas 
sufficient for you in this tremendous crisis of your 
spiritual and eternal history. And now can you 
doubt whether the grace that converted you can 
carry you forward ? What ! planted and not be able 
to thrive ? Born, and not be able to grow ? Started, 
and not be able to run ? Victorious, and not be able 
to conquer ? Will you so much disparage the grace 



TO PROGRESS. iTY 

that has been given as to doubt its continuance, and 
the work it has wrought as to fear its going for- 
ward ? Have you learnt no more from God's past 
wisdom, and power, and love, than to question 
whethei they will help you onward in that course to 
which they have introduced you ? Why one should 
be ready to suppose you would be ever full of jojrful 
expectation and exultation too, exclaiming, " To 
what measure of knowledge, faith, holiness, joy, and 
usefulness, may I not hope to reach, since I have 
been translated by the power of God from darkness 
to light, and fi'om the kingdom of Satan unto God ?" 
You yourself, in what God has done for you, are a 
proof of what he can and will do for you if you will 
let him, ask him, and trust him. Cast away then, ail 
your desponding fears, your low expectations, your 
unworthy doubts ; they dishonor God as well as 
distress yourself. You are yourself the strongest 
proof that you can advance, for you have advanced. 
" He that has begun the good work in you will per- 
form it until the day of Jesus Christ." Remember 
the words, and enter into the argument, of the 
apostle, "Much more then being now justified by 
his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through 
him. For if when we were enemies, we were re- 
conciled to God by the death of his Son, much 
more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his 
life."— Pvom. V. 9, 10. 

CONCLUDINa ADDRESS TO THE READER. 

The subject — the ineffably, infinitely, eternally, 
momentous subject, is now before you, com- 
pared with which all other matters, even the 
most valuable of them, dwindle into insignificance, 
shrink int> nothing, and fede into darkness. I 



178 ENCOURAGEMENTS 

have been speaking shout prop^ess : but p /ogress in 
what? Not in science, literature, wealth, power, 
fame. No. These are important — but what are 
they to religion ? They relate to earth, this to hea- 
ven ; they belong to time ; this to eternity. Their 
value will cease at death ; the value of this will then 
be perpetuated for ever and ever. Every step you 
take in this course is a step to glory, honor, and 
immortality ; consequences hang on each step which 
no mind can comprehend but that which grasps in- 
finity and eternity. You are fearfully and wonder- 
folly placed, for you are passing through a probation 
which must issue in torment or in bliss which eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has ever entered 
into the imagination of the human mind. I have 
laid before you the necessity of that progress — its 
nature — its means — its hinderances — its mistakes — 
its motives — and its encouragements — which belong 
to true religion. By the perusal of this book you 
have incurred a new responsibility, and are under a 
more solemn weight of obligation than you were be- 
fore. If you should turn back in your course you 
had better never have read it; or having read it 
would find it a mercy could you blot from your 
memory its contents. But this you cannot do. No 
water of oblivion can help you to cast into forgetful- 
ness what you have read. Its coming into your 
hands will form a new fact in your existence of no 
small moment to you ; for it will be a new aggra- 
vation of the sin and condemnation of backsHd- 
ing, or a new means of growth in grace. It may 
be neglected and for awhile lost sight of, but it 
will rise up again and again, if you recede, and 
will meet you like a frowning specter in your re- 
trograde path. It will follow you into eternity, to 
give sharpness and venom to the tooth of the never- 



TO PROGRESS. 1*79 

dying worm, and fierceness to the fire that never shall 
be quenched. But " I hoj^e better things of you, and 
things that accompany salvation, though I thus speak." 
The motives I have suggested will, I hope, prevail 
to urge, and the encouragements, I have suggested 
to excite you to advance. Everything you can desire 
or imagine that would be helpful is with you and for 
you. The attributes of the eternal God — the charac- 
ter and oflSces of Christ — the influences and opera- 
tions of the Holy Spirit — the ministration of angels 
— the labors of Christian ministers — the religious 
literature of the age — the prayers of all good men, 
are with you, to aid and encom-age you in your pro- 
gress. Is this nothing ? Is it little ? On the con- 
trary is it not much ? Is it not everything ? What 
more can you need, or can you have ? 

And now then let me conjure you to seek to ad- 
vance in the divine life. You must not — you dare 
not — and I hope, by the grace of God, will not, be 
satisfied to be ahvays what you are, with no more 
knowledge, faith, holiness, or peace than you now 
have. What God commanded to be said to the 
children of Israel — that they should go forward, 
is said to you, go forward. By all the authority, 
the commands, the promises of God — by all the 
love, power, grace, and intercession of Christ — by all 
the work of the Holy Spirit, so sufficient for your 
need, I conjure you go forward. By all the value 
of your immortal soul and all the blessings included 
in its salvation, I conjure you go forward. By all 
the pleasure of real religion now, and all the meetness 
it furnishes for eternal bliss hereafter, I conjure you 
GO FORWARD. By all the regard you have to the 
credit of the Chris tian profession and the welfare of 
other men's souls, I conjure you go forward. By 
all the solemnities of judgment — all the glories of 



180 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PROGRESS. 

heaven — all the torments of hell — all the ages of 
eternity, I conjure you go forward. To all these 
arguments and entreaties, so urgent as well as so 
numerous, let judgment, heart, will, conscience, re- 
spond, " Onwards^ onwards^ in the path to holiness, 
happiness, and heaven ; and then onwards, onwards, 
through the progression of eternal ages." 

Now lay down the book, and present in sincerity, 
feith, and fervour, the following prayer : — 

Almighty and most, merciful Father, thou delight- 
est not in the death of a sinner, much less in the 
destruction of a believer ; grant me, through Jesus 
Christ, the power of thy Holy Spirit, to follow the 
directions laid down in this book. Impress me 
more and more deeply with the necessity of progress 
in the divine life. Enlighten me to understand 
its true nature. Preserve me from all mistakes 
on this momentous subject. Bless to me the use 
of appropriate means for growth in grace. Enable 
me to avoid and put aside all hinder ances to pro- 
gress. Stimulate me by the application to my con- 
science and heart of all the motives here suggested, 
and cheer me by the encouragements which have 
been held out to me. Of thine infinite mercy never 
suffer me to draw back unto perdition, but number 
me with those who believe to the saving of the soul. 
Help me hke thy holy and blessed apostle Paul to 
forget the things that are behind and press towards 
the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ 
Jesus; and after continual increase of grace here 
bring me to the eternal progression of thy saints in 
glory everlasting. Grant this according to the 
xiches of thy grace, through Christ Jesus. Amen. 



FINIS. 



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